HME Industry Q&A with Mike Schmidt

HC: Your website mentions personal experience with OSA. How so?

MS: Better Rest Solutions can truly be said to have sprung from personal experience. We didn’t search the market for a niche to exploit. There are a number of people who work here or have family members who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). I include myself in this number, along with my wife. Left unchecked sleep apnea has been linked to daytime fatigue, headaches, high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and even death, so you see how concerned I was when my wife received this diagnosis. The common therapy for dealing with OSA is using a CPAP machine. My wife responded well to the therapy, but it wasn’t without its challenges, with proper cleaning being one of them. She was always pretty good about making sure she cleaned her CPAP according to the manufacturer’s directions. Despite this she still suffered from miscellaneous respiratory problems that seemed to be connected to this therapy. As far as cleaning, she was doing everything she was supposed to do, but it still didn’t seem to be enough. This left her frustrated, and that’s when the SoClean device came into development.

HC: Talk about what led to the development of the SoClean system.

MS: As I mentioned, I wasn’t alone in having OSA affect my life. Another sufferer I work with is Tim Leyva. He was experiencing the ups and downs of adjusting to CPAP therapy, too, and one of the downs was how quickly the equipment built up contaminants and how arduous it was to thoroughly sanitize it. We both thought that there had to be a better way to carry out this task, so we scoured the market in search of such an approach. It turns out, there was nothing out there that would sanitize CPAP equipment to the level that we were looking for, so we decided to make one ourselves. This was something of a departure for us, but we were strongly motivated to come up with an answer. After much research and trial and error, we began to assemble prototypes that showed promise. We finally arrived at the SoClean as it appears today. This means of sanitizing CPAP equipment is like no other and it performed exactly as we hoped it would.

HC: Describe the health benefits of using the SoClean system.

MS: What makes the SoClean really stand out is its use of activated oxygen. Activated oxygen, or ozone, is one of the most powerful sanitizing agents known to man. It has the ability to destroy any biological pathogen it comes in contact with. What this means is that any virus, mold, fungus, or bacteria that might be present in the warm, moist environment of the CPAP machine will be more than 99-percent eradicated by the use of the SoClean. Even stubborn and dangerous pathogens like MRSA and the flu virus have proved to be no match for activated oxygen. While the activated oxygen used in this process is indeed powerful, it’s utilized in a safe way that poses no risk to the user or the environment. The SoClean converts any activated oxygen it expels during use back into the air we breathe by means of a special filter. Another aspect of the SoClean that deserves recognition is the ease of use. You can sanitize the entire CPAP, including the mask, hose, and reservoir, without the need to disassemble. After an easy, one-time connection, the SoClean remains an integral part of the CPAP equipment. What this means is that daily sanitizing can now be carried out without the need to take apart any of the components. The former routine of disassemble, bring to the sink, hand clean and reassemble is now a thing of the past. It was this regular, arduous ritual that tended to turn many people off from keeping their machines properly cleaned, and as a result ripe to build up contaminants. At Better Rest Solutions we believe that the SoClean is an innovation that offers many important benefits. Besides the health benefits connected with using germ-free equipment, there’s the peace of mind that comes from knowing that your CPAP equipment is as safe as can be. To be connected with such a product that can positively impact the health and well being of others is truly a pleasure—my wife is happy and I’m happy.