R.E.S.T. Aims to Aid Travelers with Sleep Apnea

RENO, Nev.–With an eye toward easing travel difficulties and
improving compliance, a new firm will specialize in sending sleep
apnea equipment and disposable supplies to a CPAP patient’s
destination.

The Respiratory Equipment Supply Team, or R.E.S.T., is set to
open by March 1 in Reno, said co-owner Christopher Depew.

“We’ll provide a CPAP unit with humidification as well as a
disposable mask, filter and tubing [to travelers]. We’ll send the
box to their destination with the equipment already preset by a
respiratory therapist; [the customer] fills the chamber with the
bottle of water, plugs it in and uses it,” he explained.

With seven days’ notice of their destination, physician contact
information and mask size, customers can request specific masks or
equipment. The company has agreements with major manufacturers such
as Respironics, ResMed, Fisher & Paykel and Puritan Bennett to
carry their products, Depew said.

When the trip is over, the customer tosses out disposable items,
packs up the remaining equipment in a pre-addressed, postage-paid
box and leaves it to be mailed at the hotel front desk.

This eliminates the burden of carting a CPAP and supplies on an
airplane, which is not only cumbersome but can be awkward for
patients, according to Depew. Depew said his father uses a CPAP
device and was so embarrassed at having to open the box, take
everything out and explain it to security officers while traveling
that he stopped using it on trips.

“And then he was out of compliance,” Depew said, adding that his
father had also tried checking the equipment with his luggage, but
it got broken.

Depew, a former branch operations manager for a national HME
company, and his partners–a respiratory therapist and a customer
service supervisor–saw first-hand the frustrations of patients
trying to stay in compliance with their CPAP therapy while on the
road.

“We see it without fail every day: ‘I traveled with my CPAP and
I broke my mask; can you send me a new one?’” Depew said. Often,
that request for a new mask becomes snarled in red tape “and it
ends up costing them $249 for a mask,” Depew said.

Under R.E.S.T.’s system, the customer’s mask information will
remain on file to be sent immediately if needed for the price of
the mask and a shipping fee.

“We want to make it easy, and we want to make it affordable,”
Depew said. The company will not accept Medicare or insurance, but
it will take Visa or MasterCard.

Depew said he expects the bulk of the company’s initial business
will come from travelers headed to Las Vegas. But already, a
businessman who regularly travels to the United Kingdom and wants
to make use of the company’s service has contacted R.E.S.T.

“I think it’s really fulfilling a need,” Depew said. “We have an
office in Reno close to the airport, but [we’re already looking] to
expand to a larger distribution center.”