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Jim's Story
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A lot of people wonder where the ideas for new products come from. In the case of MedFOB, the inspiration came straight from my heart.
I was in Oklahoma City on business July 28, 2007. While I was driving to my second meeting in the morning, I started having some terrible heartburn. I figured that the “free breakfast” at my hotel wasn‘t so free, after all!
As I was driving, the pain got more and more intense. My upper back and neck hurt. I had the AC up full blast because I was perspiring like mad. I didn‘t know what to do. I was in a strange city and I had never met the person I was going to see. I called my appointment to tell him I was running late and, by the way, having severe chest pains. When I got to his office he insisted on taking me to the ER.
It was just like in the movies (a bad movie for me) as they ran with my gurney down to the Cardiac Cath lab, where I had three stents put in one of my arteries. I learned that time can save lives. The rule is to get a patient treated in less than 90 minutes from the time they hit the door of the ER until the time they have the blocked artery back open. In my case, it was 32 minutes.
Checking Out of the Hospital
When I was checking out 5 days later, they handed me a card that said what kind of stents I have and where they are located. “Keep this in your wallet in case of an emergency”, they said. “Oh, here is a list of your new medications and keep this in your wallet, too”.
One morning, after I was home for a few weeks, there was some tightness in my chest. My cardiologist said to go to the ER and get it checked out, although he thought it probably was not my heart. At the ER, the Doctor checked me out and did an EKG. He said he thought my heart was OK, but wasn‘t completely sure because once you have a heart attack your EKG never looks totally normal. He told me that I was lucky because it wasn‘t an evening or weekend and he could call my cardiologist and get a fax of my “normal” EKG so he could tell that nothing had changed. As I was leaving, he handed me the fax of my EKG. Once again, “Keep this in your wallet in case of an emergency.” My wallet was starting to bulge.
About four months later my cardiologist suggested that I would be a good candidate for an implanted cardiac defibrillator (ICD). We had the procedure, and when I was discharged, of course I was given still yet another card to keep in my wallet.
MedFOB - A Better Way
At this point I thought, “There has to be a better way.” I wanted something that was small, water resistant, shock resistant, and could be worn inconspicuously. I thought about just using a medical alert bracelet but they have almost no information on them, lots of people don‘t like wearing them and I‘d still have a bulging wallet. That‘s when I thought of putting all of my emergency medical information on a USB drive.
While starting a hunt for a small USB drive that looks like a piece of jewelry, I got to know a fellow heart patient at the cardiac rehabilitation gym. I knew Stan had something to do with software, so I asked him if he would be interested in working with me on this project. Little did I know that Stan would turn out to be a programming genius.
As we talked to a variety of people including physicians and emergency medical personnel we learned that our idea could not only be helpful to people with heart conditions, but those with diabetes, epilepsy, allergic reactions, Alzheimer‘s, asthma, cancer and many other conditions. They could all benefit from wearing what we had dubbed MedFOB.
There was a setback in our efforts when my Doctor determined that my stents weren‘t doing the job and would not be a good long-term solution. So, I underwent a triple bypass, which was very successful. And yet another card for my wallet!
Finally…
A few months later, after consulting with MD‘s, ER‘s, and EMT‘s, our USB drive and software were ready and we launched MedFOB. It is our hope that MedFOB will help save lives in an emergency by helping First Responders know about a person‘s critical medical information in seconds. Also, we hope that this will help make sure people in trouble get the right treatment and get it quickly.
As a cancer survivor and now a survivor of heart problems, I have learned the importance of taking responsibility for my own health. Developing MedFOB was the way I could do that for myself and for others.
The inspiration for MedFOB truly came from my heart.
Be well,
Jim
