How It Came About

How it came about can only be by the will of God.

About 10 years ago, our family, like millions of others, had to put my grandmother in a nursing home because she was getting bed ridden and my mother was not capable of lifting her out of bed, so that she could dress her, change the sheets, move her to her side where she would stay on her side. But, at least during all that ‘trying to do right’ toward my grandmother, at the time, she did not have any bedsores. When my mother finally got down in her back, pulling and tugging on my grandmother, the family finally decided it was best for all to move her to a nursing home. Our hope was at least at the nursing home there would be enough people staffed to see that she was taken care of. We were in for a shock of our lives. It turned out that the nursing home was understaffed to do what was needed for my grandmother, so she went downhill in a short period of time. She wasn’t turned or moved as recommended by the doctor, so bedsores appeared.

            One day I was walking down the hall to visit my grandmother. It so happened, when I got to her room, just across the hall was a nursing attendant trying to dress a patient. What I saw then, changed my life. When the nursing attendant pulled on the arm of the patient to set her up so that the attendant could replace her gown, the attendant’s thumb tore a piece of skin from the patient’s arm, by just pulling on the patient. At that moment in time, I thought there has to be a better way than pulling and tugging on patients to move them around. As the weeks went on, time and time again, I noticed sores on patients in areas where they could have been grabbed, of course most were bandaged, but some had not been bandaged since skin tears, like those, did not always bleed. I came across one room where three attendants were trying to roll over a patient that had to be over 350 pounds. The attendants got the job done, but I heard them complaining about their backs. I kept saying to myself, there has to be a better way.

            After my grandmother passed on, I dreamed for the next 10 or so years that I could figure out what could be done to help people that were bed-ridden, if only I had the time to work on it. But, God works in mysterious ways. After 13 years, I had to leave the company I had worked for.

            Bottom line, God said to me, “You prayed to have time to work on your invention. If you do not have a regular job to go to each day, you’ll have plenty of time and no excuse, so be it.” So I drew out my savings to purchase materials, parts, and equipment and for other expenses that I already had. I already had the basic idea how to accomplish the task. The basic idea was, if you place someone on a board, lift up the side of the board high enough, the guy on the board would turn over. So my first try was to seal some heat sealable fabric together in a shape of a triangle, like it would look if you lifted a board. I was shocked to find out that the back of the inflatable triangle had to be 36 inches tall to accomplish turning the subject. Can you imaging the bottom sheet on the bed having to go 36 inches in the air to move a patient over? Neither could I. To make matters worse, after the patient was on his side, if the other triangle chamber was inflated to move the patient to his other side, the patient was just pushed off the bed, instead of being put back on his back. My bubble of being so smart was popped. Depression set in, I thought and thought of what could I do, but everything that came to my mind turned out to be worse than the original idea. I finally gave up and told God that I turned my problem over to him to do with it, as he desired. The very next morning, I woke up knowing how the task could be designed. That design is what I offer you today. I had a doctor tell me that the device needed to work on moving patients automatically. I worked on that problem for months until I gave the problem over to God. I now offer an Option for the Bedsore Free Device to be programmed to move a patient as often as needed, 24 hours, 7 days a week. The patient can be moved manually to change sheets, clean or dress the patient.

            What I offer is something that will aid in moving a patient or a loved one that is bed-ridden. This will aid in the preventing bedsores from occurring and help in the aid of healing those that are appearing, provided that the area is kept clean. This device is not a fix all, do all, but just a tool to be used for the purpose it was designed. People using this device, must take responsibility for the operation and care of the device. Very few things in life are operator proof. The device is capable of moving the patient to his or her stomach and face or completely off a bed without bed rails, if care is not taken. The Bedsore Free Device can be over pressured so that some part of it could start leaking, but that is unlikely if the operator of the device is observant and not distracted while moving the patient. The device is pressure tested where in theory this pressure should move over 1,000 pounds. I am still looking for an opportunity to move a person that weighs over 500 pounds. People up to 350 pounds have not been a problem.

            This device came about after a doctor told me that bedsores could be prevented if patients could be rolled every 2 hours from their back, to their side, then back again. I give the credit of making such a device to God, because through him anything is possible.

By:

Bobie Kenneth Townsend