Inventing My Way To YOU!
Hi! I'm Melissa and this is my husband, Dave.
Inventing My Way To YOU!
How did I come up with the idea for the O2 FRESHâ„¢ cannula cover? Simple: patient need.
As a home oxygen user I was constantly putting my nasal cannula down "for just a second" on doorknobs, chairs, and hooks and running off to do something. Blow my nose, take the dog out, eat. Then I'd reinsert the prongs - which had just been on a doorknob everyone in the house touches - into my nose. Does that sound like a bad idea to you? Me, too.
You wouldn't swipe your finger across any surface in a patient's room or home and stick it in your nose. Likewise, It makes no sense to reinsert nasal cannulas that have been on those surfaces. Or the floor. Or that touched the hospital wall when you flung it over the oxygen flow meter.
My insight as a patient is that the way nasal cannulas are handled is a problem that needs to be solved. Especially since we need to close as many routes of possible infection as we can as we work our way through the COVID-19 pandemic. I believe the hygienic O2 FRESHâ„¢cannula cover can solve the problem.
My first prototype for what was to become the O2 FRESHâ„¢ cannula cover was as large as a soap dish with a lid held together with a rubber band. But it bothered me because it didn't feel right. First, it needed a handle. Then, it needed a different opening. A texture, a finish. Then one day the 3D printer spit out a design that when I saw it I thought, "Hey, this is sellable." I immediately saw everything it could be, all the iterations that could follow, and all the places it could go. Which is everywhere and anywhere someone uses or works with a nasal cannula. And the two year journey to bring it to market began.
Imagination can help you see something that never existed before. Hard work helps you name it and call it into existence. It’s my pleasure to bring a new thing into the world that is going to help a lot of people stay healthy and use oxygen. Be well!