The Federal Aviation Agency, also known as FAA, has been partially closed for the past week. The reasoning for this closure was due to disagreements in its budgeting. About sixteen million dollars in its spending budget was set aside for small rural airports in the United States, which was being questioned by congress. A recent report that came out stated that the FAA shutdowns lead to the furlough of about seventy thousand jobs. This number accounts for any employment positions outside of the FAA that were also affected. What is very troubling about the entire situation is the fact the FAA lost about $390 million dollars in tax revenue in the time it was closed over the matter of just $16 million dollars. This fact was presented recently to the American public, which was outraged. Many Americans feel that congress is holding the best interests of the United States hostage for their various interests. Before the FAA was shutdown, it was working on getting a new medical device into its required medical kit available on all flights. Due to the closure, it was also put on hold until recently when it was announced that the FAA would be back to normal working hours starting next week.
The medical device the FAA is adopting into its medical kits on flights is the oximeter. An oximeter, also known as a pulse
oximeter, is a medical device used to measure the blood oxygen saturation and pulse rate of an individual. It has been used by pilots for many years now to measure their oxygen levels while flight. The
oximeter is now in a new more compact form. It is no longer a large tabletop or handheld unit. It is now available as a fingertip unit. A fingertip oximeter simply clips onto ones finger and provides accurate readings within seconds. A fingertip oximeter is widely used already by medical professionals and in the home by millions of Americans. As soon as the FAA is back open, the oximeter will be a required medical device for all medical kits in all airlines in the United States. Real events of the past have revealed the need for a pulse
oximeter in various medical emergencies.
The FAA shutdown affected many different industries over the past few weeks, but the health of passengers should never be risked due to budgeting reasons. This notion has left the public very upset, and therefore the congress has gotten a lot of feedback.
