Medline Launches Respiratory Division

Mundelein, Ill.

Medline, the nation’s largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, has launched a new respiratory division.

“Over the past 10 years we’ve experienced tremendous growth in respiratory sales, averaging close to 30 percent per year,” said Dennis Cook, a company veteran who will head the new division as president.

“There are more than 40 million people in the United States with some type of respiratory ailment, ranging from asthma to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to obstructive sleep apnea to pneumonia. We want to provide our customers with the best service, so we really needed to invest in this market,” he said.

As the baby boom generation gets older, Cook noted that demand for respiratory products also will increase. Census Bureau projections indicate that by 2030, one in five Americans will be age 65 or older.

The new respiratory group will include a team of engineers working on the development of a series of new products, according to the company. The division also will offer continuing education, and its staff will include several clinicians serving as product managers to help both Medline engineers and customers to better understand the complex product area.

“We’re dealing with products that can literally mean the difference between life and death, so it is imperative that we have the expertise in-house to make sure we are providing our customers the technical know-how to provide better care for their patients,” Cook said.

Cook, a licensed respiratory therapist for more than 17 years, joined Medline in 1999 as vice president of the DME division and has served in that position until now.