In 2025, Dr. Kevin Spencer, right, reached out to the creative team behind the show to introduce the Ring Rescue System. He later provided a demonstration to lead actor and co-executive producer Noah Wyle, left, at an emergency medicine conference in Salt Lake City.Ring Rescue
The hit medical television drama, The Pitt, will bring a Canadian-made product to the screen, showcasing innovation in emergency care that frees rings entrapped on fingers.
The devices included in a kit designed by Ring Rescue Inc., based in Dartmouth, N.S., will be featured on an episode Thursday night on the HBO Max show. The medical drama, starring Noah Wyle (former ER heartthrob Dr. John Carter), has been lauded by clinicians for its realistic portrayals of health care professionals who work out of a Pittsburgh hospital.
“It’s fantastic for us and I’m really proud,” Kevin Spencer, Ring Rescue CEO and emergency room physician, said in an interview. Dr. Spencer, who works at Dartmouth General Hospital, is also trained as a mechanical engineer.
Before the episode aired, praise was heaped on him and his team.
“A medical device developed right here in Nova Scotia by Ring Rescue Inc. will be featured on HBO Max’s The Pitt,” N.S. Premier Tim Houston wrote on social media this week. “What started as a practical solution for emergency rooms is now being used across North America – and even making its way onto television.
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Dr. Spencer understands what it’s like trying to help patients with rings that won’t budge. Ring entrapment can escalate from minor discomfort to an emergency that requires immediate medical attention. A patient’s finger can swell to the point where blood flow is restricted and surgery could be required.
Dr. Spencer, 50, said the Ring Rescue system includes a compression device that can be used to shrink a finger. The kit also includes a so-called “dolphin ring cutter” that can be used to slice tough metals, like titanium.
Emergency departments in his home province and neighbouring Prince Edward Island have access to the devices. The hope, he said, is that all Canadian hospitals will adopt using the Ring Rescue system and that it could become the standard of care globally to address the medical issue of ring entrapment.
On March 12, Ring Rescue will appear on The Pitt.Ring Rescue Marketing/Ring Rescue
“This is a global problem,” Dr. Spencer said. “The solution starts here in Canada.”
For the ring removal device to make it from a real-life emergency room to a television one was all about good timing.
Last fall, Dr. Spencer attended the American College of Emergency Physicians Scientific Assembly in Salt Lake City, where he met Mr. Wyle and two medical contributors for the show.
Mr. Wyle was the keynote speaker at the event. The interaction led show producers to reach out with interest in featuring the system on an upcoming episode.
“To be included on the show is a real honour.”
The idea for the devices traces back about a decade ago. Dalhousie University mechanical engineering students Patrick Hennessey and Brad MacKeil were looking at how compression could be used to remove stuck rings. They teamed up with Dr. Spencer, an alumni of the university who was working as an ER doctor, to further refine their concept and form the company.
Dr. Spencer is an emergency physician at Dartmouth General Hospital and co-founder and CEO of Ring Rescue.Ring Rescue Marketing/Ring Rescue
Ring Rescue employs 20 people. Mr. Hennessey is also the company’s co-founder and chief technology officer, and Mr. MacKeil is co-founder and chief operations officer.
Doris Grant, managing director of Nova Scotia Health Innovation Hub, said Ring Rescue represents the kind of innovation the province strives to accelerate. The hub aims to elevate innovation and research.
“Ring Rescue is a textbook example of how a locally developed solution can scale provincially, expand internationally, and improve care for patients in real-world settings,” she said in a statement.
“And, of course, also patients on television, with The Pitt being a great exposure opportunity.”