What we do
Our role in cryonics
Our mission
To assist people who are on the path to a cryonic suspension.
To optimise the process so that a good quality cryonic suspension is achieved.
Optimal suspension
After you have signed up with a cryonics storage facility, there is still more planning needed to ensure that you are suspended in optimal condition. At the end of your life, prompt and efficient Standby, Stabilisation and Transportation procedures can minimize brain damage. Otherwise, the revival that you hope for might be significantly delayed until advancements in technology can overcome any deterioration. Or worse still, there might not be enough of your personality left to be revived.
At your final bedside, you will need someone who is sufficiently detached and focussed on the work to be done. Your loved ones cannot be expected to fill this role. For them, it will be an emotional time. They will only have this last chance to share with you, and to hear from you all the important personal thoughts that can no longer be left till later. The following questions should be considered:
- Will they be able to focus on implementing your cryonic intention? Will they understand what to do? And if so, will they remember it all?
- Or could they be exhausted after ministering to you? Could they forget the details? Could they be overcome with feelings that compromise their ability to act?
- Even if they can act, will they have access to the required equipment and supplies?
Engaging CryoPath to plan and execute the critical Standby, Stabilisation and Transportation procedures can give you confidence in an optimal cryonic suspension when the time comes.
Our service
Process
For people who have already signed up for a cryonic suspension, we offer the specialised procedures of Standby, Stabilisation and Transportation that are required immediately after death. These procedures are provided on a pre-paid basis and should be arranged with us in advance.
We offer the procedures as one integrated process, which allows us to minimise risk in our service. See About our process.
Disclaimer
Whilst we encourage anyone undertaking a cryonic suspension in any circumstances, it is our responsibility to treat our patients according to the endorsed process. In cases where the patient has unsuccessfully arranged alternative services and then calls us to intervene at the last minute, it is unlikely that we would be able to properly follow our process. We urge you to avoid the higher risk and greater costs that this would most likely incur.
Our service standards
Respect for your family
At Cryopath, we aim to meet your need for an optimal cryonic suspension calmly and efficiently, acting with the greatest respect for the grief of your family at the end of your life. We can take the load of responsibility off their shoulders, leaving them free to spend the remaining time peacefully with you, to experience your passing as gently as possible, and to grieve privately without intrusion.
Articulation of your intention
If you have provided us with evidence of your intention to be cryonically suspended, we are able to articulate your wishes in the event of any doubt or lack of understanding amongst your family members, especially if you have become unable to communicate.
Best-practice procedures
Our service providers are trained in the stabilisation and perfusion procedures that have been shown by long-established cryonics organisations overseas to most effectively preserve the human body and brain after death. And they have access to the equipment and supplies that are recommended by these organisations.
Immediate support
Our best-practice procedures are commenced without delay so that they can provide immediate support for the delicate tissues of your brain. This allows you to arrive at the cryonics storage facility in the best possible condition for the preservation of your ‘personhood’, which is the reason why you have chosen a cryonic suspension.
Legal compliance
We comply fully with the law. Our procedures are only commenced after clinical death has been legally declared. This prevents legal complications that could otherwise severely compromise the quality of your cryonic suspension.
Minimisation of risk
We have designed our process specifically to mitigate the risks that are specific to our local conditions – in particular, the risks involved with (1) having a small widely-spread population with an infrequent demand for cryonic services, (2) needing access to specialised equipment that is not commonly available and (3) transporting patients over large distances.
Guide to costs
Local
The guide for delivery of the patient within Australia from Sydney to the Southern Cryonics facility is $35,000 to $50,000, depending on individual circumstances. For other capital cities, there will be additional costs, adding another $10,000 to $20,000.
Please note, these costs are estimates only. We can discuss your needs with you.
Overseas
The guide for delivery of the patient from Sydney Australia to a USA facility is around $70,000. For other capital cities, there will be additional costs, adding another $10,000 to $20,000. We can discuss your needs with you.
Please note, these costs are estimates only. We can discuss your needs with you.
Payment
Payment basis
Our service is provided on a ‘pay-as-you-go’ basis, rather than a contractual basis. Your costs will vary depending on your needs, especially on whether your chosen cryonics provider is overseas, and where you live in Australia. Also, costs will vary according to the pricing schedules of individual suppliers and service providers, and according to current schedules at the time of service. See Guide to Costs.
Special arrangement
Many patients (e.g. Subscribers / Associate Members of Southern Cryonics) will have an arrangement with Southern Cryonics, Alcor, or Cryonics Institute to cover immediate expenses such as airfare, funeral director, perfusionist, chemicals, etc., and to cover the remaining cost of CryoPath’s service through life insurance.
For those patients who do not have such an arrangement (e.g. Founding and Full Members of Southern Cryonics), full pre-payment for our service must be arranged through one of the following options:
- Funeral insurance
- Funeral fund
- Credit card
- Cash
- Other acceptable to funeral director
Pre-payment
For all patients: A pre-payment of $10,000 is needed to cover false alarms. This is required because our volunteers cannot personally cover immediate expenses. If these expenses are not covered, we would be unable to initiate our process.
For patients without a special arrangement: the amount of your pre-payment will be determined by your individual circumstances. See Guide to Costs.
Your pre-payment is a contribution to our Preparedness Fund. The conditions of your contribution are:
- Your contribution will be used exclusively for yourself and will be receipted.
- Your contribution does not in any way imply commitment from either CryoPath or yourself. Rather, the commitments will be determined at the appropriate time prior to your cryonic suspension.
- At any time before the use of CryoPath’s service, you may withdraw your contribution.
- After the use of CryoPath’s service, any unused balance of your contribution will be returned to your estate or legal representative.
- If you do not use CryoPath’s service for your cryonic suspension, your contribution will be returned to your estate or legal representative.
- If you have a false alarm that results in some expenses being incurred by CryoPath, your contribution will be used to fund these and you will need to top it up for your future needs.
Patient Care Fund
Purpose
As well as providing a pre-suspension service, CryoPath maintains a pooled Patient Care Fund, which supports the future needs of patients who have been cryonically suspended at Southern Cryonics in Australia.
This is a tax-effective method of long-term saving for cryonics patients who will need a financial start if and when they are revived.
For more information, contact CryoPath.
Donations
The Patient Care Fund provides support on an equitable basis according to voluntary donations made to the fund. Any monies that cannot be distributed equitably will be donated to charity.
Who we are
Peter Tsolakides (Director)
Peter became interested in cryonics after reading Robert Ettinger’s book ‘The Prospect of Immortality’ in the late 1960s, and thought that, by now, cryonics would be widely available — sadly this is not the case. He has degrees in Science (chemistry) and Business Administration.
Peter worked in the marketing organization of a major multi-national oil company for over 30 years, with 24 years of overseas assignments including Thailand, Singapore, Japan and USA, where he held progressively more senior management roles. His main career path has been in strategic planning, project development planning and major project implementation management. Before leaving to progress personal business activities in 2008, he managed a gate-keeping team of high-level executives in USA, which vetted global capital projects totalling $1B and other projects (e.g. divestments) with value of further $1B.
Since then, Peter has owned and managed a private consulting firm. Currently, he is progressing personal projects to make cryonics more accessible and widespread. Two of these are Southern Cryonics and Cryonics Services Australia, which are sister organizations that dovetail seamlessly with CryoPath to provide a full cryonics service in Australia.
George Tsolakides (Director)
George is a mechanical engineer who has held a wide range of positions, including management. He has been a Director in several organisations mainly involved with corporate recruitment. George is now retired and has worked in non-profit organisations using his recruitment background to help less fortunate people find suitable employment. He is also a Founder and Director of our sister cryonics organisation, Southern Cryonics.
Phil Rhodes (Director)
Phil has been pursuing various non-profit projects in the fields of cryonics and life extension for 25 years, and currently heads both the Cryonics Association of Australasia (CAA) and the Neural Archives Foundation (NAF) as a Founder and Executive Director. He has a degree in Science (Zoology and Genetics) and began his working life in biomedical research for many years with The Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service and hospital pathology labs. This was followed by 35 years’ experience working as a software developer and IT network consultant to multiple small businesses.
Drawing on this diverse expertise, Phil has also been writing a PhD thesis on Computer Models of Population Genetics of Threatened Species, which remains unfinished due to his commitment to CryoPath, CAA, NAF and other life extension projects for the benefit of the Australian community.
Outsourced service providers
Medical perfusionist:
Australian Blood Management
17/1 Short Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
Central funeral director:
A. O’Hare Funeral Directors
15–19 Norton Street
Leichhardt NSW 2040
Local funeral director:
In most Australian capital cities, our central funeral director has contacts who they work with when patients need to be transported to Sydney. Or you may already have a local funeral director that you prefer to engage.
Volunteers
Because CryoPath is a non-profit organisation, its operation is coordinated by volunteers. There are opportunities for more volunteers to join us in our work, particularly in the Standby procedure. If you would like to help, please contact us.