Equipment rentals
Dolphin FIS Standard Therapy Systems
Three surfaces sit in this group, and they are 35 inches wide because that is what a standard homecare or hospital bed deck takes. What separates them is depth and deck shape, not therapy: the standard therapy mattress at 10 inches, the Low Profile at 8, and the V-Matt at 10 inches and 88 inches long for step-deck frames. All three run on the same AutoVector control unit and behave the same way once someone is on them. Dolphin, Dolphin FIS, Fluid Immersion Simulation and AutoVector are registered trademarks of Joerns Healthcare LLC. We are an authorized Joerns dealer.
Choosing between them is mostly a question about the bed, and it is worth answering before anything else, because a surface that does not fit a deck is not a compromise, it is a hazard. Joerns puts it plainly: the risk of entrapment can arise when equipment is placed on bed frames that leave gaps of even a few inches between the therapy mattress and the head panel, foot panel and bed or side rails, and the equipment is not to be used when such gaps are present. That is why every enquiry here starts with the frame make, model and deck measurement rather than with a price.
Choosing a configuration
Three decisions, in the order they get made
1 Frame length
Measure the deck of the bed the surface has to sit on, not the mattress already on it.
2 Width, by what the patient needs
Width is about room to be repositioned and about the frame it lands on — it is not a proxy for the rated capacity, which steps up only at the widest surface.
- 35″, rated 500 lb — Standard Dolphin FIS, Low-Profile System, V-Matt Step-Deck
- 42″, rated 500 lb — Wide 42-Inch
- 48″, rated 1,000 lb — Extra-Wide 48-Inch
3 Depth, and where Low Profile fits
Depth is a property of the configuration, not a thickness you pick on any model. The shallower build exists to bring the transfer height down for someone getting in and out of bed, or standing beside it.
In text, the same three decisions: length is 82″ or 88″ — the 88″ build is the step-deck configuration; width is 35″, 42″, 48″, and the rated capacity is 500 lb or 1,000 lb, stepping up only at 48″; depth is 8″ or 10″, where 8″ is the Low Profile build (Low-Profile System) and 10″ covers the rest.
Joerns documents the foam safety cell for Low Profile models only, as protection against bottoming out during a power failure that outlasts the battery — it is not a feature of the 10″ surfaces, and it is not a permanent internal layer.
None of these is a decision to make on your own from a web page. Send us the frame, the person and the dates and we will work it through with you before anything is quoted.
Choose your equipment
Standard Dolphin FIS Mattress
The 35-inch fluid immersion surface, re-profiling to the patient continuously.
Models: Joerns Healthcare Dolphin® FIS® Standard Therapy Mattress with AutoVector® Control Unit
- 35" × 82" × 10"
- 500 lb rated
- Approx. 12 h battery backup
Low-Profile Dolphin FIS System
An 8-inch surface for low transfer height, with a foam bottom-out safety cell.
Models: Joerns Healthcare Dolphin® FIS® Low Profile Therapy Mattress
- 8" deep, lower transfer height
- 35" and 42" widths
- Foam safety cell
Dolphin Step-Deck V-Matt System
A contoured 88-inch surface built for step-deck articulating frames.
Models: Joerns Healthcare Dolphin® V-Matt Step-Deck Therapy Mattress
- 35" × 88" × 10"
- Step-deck frames
- CairEdge edge padding
Which one fits the need?
| If the need is… | Look at | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A standard flat-deck bed, a person who stays in bed, reliable power | Standard Dolphin FIS | The 35" × 82" × 10" surface rated 500 lb, on the AutoVector control unit with approximately 12 hours of battery. The straightforward configuration when nothing pushes you off it. |
| The person still transfers, or rail height and bed height are marginal | Low-Profile System | Eight inches deep instead of ten, so the sleeping surface sits two inches lower and the rails two inches higher relative to the body. Rated 500 lb at 35" and 42". |
| Long or frequent power outages here | Low-Profile System | Joerns fits a foam based safety cell to Low Profile models only, to protect patients from bottoming out in the event of a power failure that exceeds battery life. The standard mattress has none. |
| A step-deck articulating bed frame | V-Matt Step-Deck | 88 inches long and contoured for a stepped deck, with CairEdge padding at the point of ingress and egress and an air-filled safety cell. A flat 82-inch surface does not belong on that frame. |
| A person too tall for an 82-inch bed, on a bed that extends | Low-Profile System | The 8-inch EX runs 80 to 92 inches using adjustable length-extension cells which, in Joerns’ words, with a compatible bed allow the bed and mattress to extend. The bed has to extend too. |
| More room across, at the same rating | Wide 42-Inch | The 42-inch surface is seven inches wider at the same 500 lb Joerns publishes for the 35-inch. Width, not capacity — above 500 lb it is the 48-inch bariatric surface instead. |
What fluid immersion simulation does differently
Alternating pressure and low air loss are the surfaces most people have already been offered, and they are the categories a payer recognises. The mechanism here is a different one.
Schematic
Two different mechanisms, drawn side by side
Alternating pressure
Discrete cells, inflating and deflating in cycle
Fluid immersion simulation
One continuous envelope, sensor-driven
Alternating pressure. An air pump inflates and deflates separate cells in sequence, so the areas carrying the load keep changing on a repeating cycle. At any one moment the body is resting on the cells that happen to be inflated. This is the mechanism behind the Medicare Group 2 powered surfaces, alongside low air loss.
Fluid immersion simulation. There is no cycle and no sequence of cells. Joerns describes the system as automatically measuring a patient’s anthropometric characteristics as they engage the surface and producing an individualized immersion profile that creates a near neutrally buoyant state, with the AutoVector® control module monitoring the support surface more than 100 times per second.
Both panels are schematics. Neither is to scale, and neither is a cutaway or a drawing of any real product. A Dolphin FIS is also not an air-fluidized bed — that is a different device again, one that circulates warm air through silicone-coated ceramic beads.
What fluid immersion simulation actually does
Fluid immersion simulation is not alternating pressure and it is not an air-fluidized bed. There is no cycle of cells inflating and deflating in sequence, and there are no ceramic beads. Joerns describes the technology as automatically simulating a fluid environment, maintaining near normal blood flow, minimizing soft tissue distortion and optimizing tissue oxygenation, and says it was initially developed for the dry transport of specially trained U.S. Navy dolphins. Developed for that use, not by the Navy: there is no military endorsement of this equipment or of us.
The mechanism is measurement. Joerns states that the system automatically measures the specific anthropometric characteristics of the individual patient as they engage the support surface, producing an individualized immersion profile that creates what Joerns calls a near neutrally buoyant state, and that the AutoVector control module monitors the support surface more than 100 times per second for any patient movement or surface changes. Joerns adds that the system uses complex algorithms and a microprocessor to precisely adjust the surface and optimize for each patient’s unique anatomical features, and that it automatically adjusts to each patient’s weight, surface area and repositioning.
For a caregiver, the consequence is simple and it is the main practical difference from most powered surfaces: there is nothing to set. Joerns states there is no need for direct intervention or manual entry to adjust comfort settings. A manual comfort adjustment exists and the control module re-optimizes around it, and Joerns instructs that after any comfort adjustment the caregiver should perform a hand check to confirm the patient is not touching the mattress support platform. We teach that check at setup, to whoever is going to be there at three in the morning.
Depth: ten inches, eight inches, and what two inches changes
The standard therapy mattress is 35 inches wide by 82 inches long by 10 inches deep. The Low Profile is the same footprint at 8 inches. Two inches sounds like nothing until you follow it through the day: it is two inches of sitting height at the edge of the bed, two inches of difference in a pivot transfer to a wheelchair, and two inches of change in how far the side rails stand above the person lying there.
There is a second, model-specific difference and it is the one people most often get wrong. Joerns fits a foam based safety cell to Low Profile therapy mattress models only, to protect patients from bottoming out in the event of a power failure that exceeds battery life. It fits an air-filled safety cell to V-Matt models only, for the same purpose on step-deck frames. The standard 10-inch mattress has neither. None of the three is a permanent therapeutic layer and none is a second battery; all of it concerns what is under the person after roughly twelve hours without mains power.
- Standard therapy mattress: 35" × 82" × 10", 500 lb, no safety cell
- Low Profile: 35" × 82" × 8", 500 lb at 35" and 42"; foam safety cell, Low Profile models only
- EX expandable: 35" × 80"–92" × 8", 500 lb; length-extension cells, with a compatible bed
- V-Matt step-deck: 35" × 88" × 10", 500 lb; air-filled safety cell and CairEdge, V-Matt models only
- Every capacity is the mattress figure — the frame under it has its own rated load
The frame decides more than you think
Start with the deck shape. A step-deck frame has sections sitting at different levels rather than in one plane, and a flat 82-inch surface bridges those steps and opens gaps when the bed articulates — usually at the break points, under the bedding, where nobody sees them. That is what the V-Matt exists for, and its 88-inch length is taken up by the deck contour rather than giving anyone a longer bed. On a flat deck, the V-Matt is the wrong shape and will overhang.
Then the rating. Joerns rates all three surfaces in this group at 500 lb, and footnotes every capacity figure the same way: it is the mattress weight capacity only, and total weight must not exceed the bed frame manufacturer’s specified load capacity. In a home the frame is very often the lower number, and homecare frames frequently publish both a patient limit and a total limit including the mattress and accessories. Compare the person’s charted weight against the patient limit.
Then length. Someone too tall for an 82-inch surface needs the EX, which Joerns lists at 80 to 92 inches using adjustable length-extension cells that, in Joerns’ words, with a compatible bed allow the bed and mattress to extend from 80 to 92 inches. The phrase carries weight: on a fixed frame, an extending mattress gets you an overhang at the foot panel, which is the gap the entrapment warning is about.
Power, battery and what happens overnight
Every system in this group runs from the AutoVector control unit: 11.5 by 12.5 by 6 inches, 10 lb, on 115/230 VAC at 50/60 Hz and 0.34/0.21 A. Joerns states that a rechargeable sealed 12 VDC battery provides alternate power to the control unit for approximately 12 hours in the event that the system is disconnected or during a power failure, and that it recharges when power is restored. Write it down as approximately twelve hours, because that is how Joerns writes it; it is not a guaranteed runtime.
One operational detail is worth more than it looks: Joerns states the Storage Switch must be in the Battery On position for the battery to recharge. A household that chose the Low Profile specifically for its outage behavior should not discover during an outage that the battery has been sitting flat for a month. We check the switch at setup and show the caregiver where it is.
The other practical control is Autofirm, which firms the surface for transfers and care procedures. Joerns states the system automatically returns to the previous setting after approximately 15 minutes, so the therapy resumes whether or not anyone remembers. A quick CPR deflation valve is fitted to the therapy mattress, and we make sure the caregiver has found it and felt it before we leave.
- Control unit: 11.5" W × 12.5" H × 6" D, 10 lb, 115/230 VAC, 50/60 Hz, 0.34/0.21 A
- Battery: sealed 12 VDC rechargeable, approximately 12 hours, recharges with the Storage Switch on
- Autofirm returns to the previous setting after approximately 15 minutes
- Operating conditions: 50–95 °F, 30–75% relative humidity non-condensing, IPX2
- Warranty: two years on the mattress, two years on the control unit
- Therapy mattress 22 lb, control unit 10 lb — what ships is a surface, not a bed
What the manufacturer says it is for, and what nobody can say
Joerns describes the technology as reducing soft tissue distortion and promoting blood flow, creating a platform that is highly effective for the prevention and healing of pressure injuries through Stage 4, as well as for treating patients with post-operative flaps and grafts. Joerns says it may also be used for patients whose medical condition precludes turning and repositioning, or where these interventions may be contraindicated, and for patients with spinal cord injury once the acute injury has been stabilized and these patients have been cleared by a physician. Joerns also states that the system has been demonstrated to reduce the risk of pressure ulcer formation as part of protocols for the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers.
Every one of those sentences is Joerns’, in Joerns’ hedged form, and Joerns closes its own indications with the line that governs this site: in all cases, Joerns clinical indications are guidelines and should be taken only as recommendations for consideration during individual patient assessment by the clinician. So here is what we will not do. We will not tell you a surface will heal a wound. We will not give you a healing time or a success rate, because none exists in any source we could verify. We will not suggest this replaces turning, skin checks, nutrition or wound care, and we will not substitute our judgement for the care team’s.
What we will do is tell you when the answer is somewhere else. If a covered Group 2 powered surface would serve the person, ask for that first — it is the tier Medicare’s criteria are written around, and it may cost the household nothing. And you should know that Aetna’s Clinical Policy Bulletin 0430 lists fluid immersion simulation among items it considers experimental, investigational or unproven, names the Dolphin FIS system, and describes it as institutional equipment that is inappropriate for home use, on the basis that evidence of effectiveness in the home setting is insufficient. We do not agree with the conclusion. We are not going to hide the position from someone about to spend five figures.
Discharge coming up
Coming home from hospital in the next day or two?
Send us a note with the discharge date and the surface the care team has recommended. What can arrive in time depends on stock, the freight lane and the hour you call, so the earlier the better.
Questions people ask us
What is the difference between the three standard Dolphin FIS systems?
Do all Dolphin mattresses have a safety cell?
How is this different from an alternating pressure mattress?
What weight do these surfaces take?
How long does the battery last in a power cut?
Will one of these fit the bed we already have?
Does Medicare cover a Dolphin FIS system?
Do you rent these or sell them?
Rent or buy standard systems
Phone with the date it has to be in the room and who it is for, or send the details online and we will confirm the model, the price both ways and the freight lane.