Breath Easy: There`s a New Tank in Town
|  Video
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| Joanna Small |
| 7/19/2007 |
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| Most of us probably take the ability to breath on our own for granted. But not everyone is fortunate enough to survive on just our natural air supply alone. That`s where portable oxygen tanks come in. People with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease or COPD, chronic bronchitis, and asthma have found the solution to their breathing problems through these devices. But they are so big and bulky that some of their users say they would rather stay home than tote their tanks from place to place. Until now. Health Reporter Joanna Small spent some time at Med-Equip in Bismarck where she learned about a new kind of tank making travel a possibility for people on extra air. This new oxygen generator is called an AirSep, and unlike oxygen tanks of the past, it`s hardly even recognizable as something medical. It`s the least invasive device of its kind and after just six months on the market, North Dakotans are already breathing in its benefits. When Connie Nixon goes to the grocery store, all she has to remember is her list, but that wasn`t always the case. "I nearly always had an extra tank but sometimes we forgot or the one in the car was used," Connie recalls. So Connie was more worried about keeping her lungs filled up than filling up her shopping cart. She has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and has been using a portable oxygen tank for about two years now. But for the past three weeks Connie has been enjoying portable air, tank-free. "Going out and about initially it was tanks like this that weight 18 to 20 pounds and then within the last ten to 15 years you`ve had the availability for the smaller tanks, considerably less weight at four to six pounds but they`re limited and only have a certain amount of air in those tanks," explains Med-Equip Respitory Therapist Mike Myers. One of the best things about the AirSep is it`s constantly generating it`s own oxygen, so Connie can get away from home without worrying about running out of air. "You have an unlimited supply so basically you have to find a power source, which is easier to find than having to worry about where your next tank is," Myers continues. The newest version of the oxygen tank is both discrete and infinite. It has an internal battery that can be plugged into your car`s cigarette lighter or the wall, so Connie simply recharges instead of replacing. "It`s so much easier to get around.... I`ve been going a lot since I got this," Connie says. Now Connie can breath a sigh of relief, actually endless sighs of relief. The older portable oxygen tanks only had enough air to last between three and four and half hours. Connie said she was in Med-Equip every week buying new tanks before she switched to the AirSep. |
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