LAS VEGAS – A month after Medtrade Spring, providers and manufacturers combed through their leads and made plans for Medtrade in Orlando, scheduled for Oct 7-10. For award recipients such as AM Airway Management/VirtuOx, winners of the Provider’s Choice Award for its TapPap Nasal Pillows CPAP mask at this year’s Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas, the year has already gotten off to an excellent start.
“The TAP PAP Nasal Pillow Mask is one of the most innovative interfaces to be released in many years,” says Alastair McAuley, president, Airway Management, Carrollton, Tex. “The new approach to interface design solves many of the common problems associated with masks and delivers a product that is exceptionally stable, doesn’t leak, and can be used without straps or headgear that often cause marks and discomfort on the face.”
Company officials say the ThermAcryl mouthpiece is a key new technology that enables HMEs and patients to access the stability and comfort of a pillow mask that is secured by the upper teeth.
Maddak Inc of Wayne, NJ, took home the Innovation Award for its Morph Wheels Foldable Wheelchair Wheels at this year’s Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas. “This award truly captures the spirit of the product,” says Kathleen O. Hanek, director of Operations and Product Management, Maddak Inc, Wayne, NJ. “It is the first of its kind and it will truly revolutionize the lives of active on-the-go wheelchair users.”
The Evenup Corp, Buford, Ga, landed the Merit Award for its Evenup product, a shoelift device that corrects differences in leg length due to rehab boots on the opposite foot.
According to Tina Cousino, operations manager at Ga-based Evenup Corp, retailers at Medtrade Spring were impressed with the cost effective and simple solution to a problem that many customers in fracture boots experience while in treatment. “Evenup was invented by a Podiatrist after hearing complaints from his patients about back/hip/knee pains caused by walking in these devices,” says Cousino. “With no solutions to offer them, he invented one.”
DME Train of West Springfield, Mass, earned the Creative Concept Award at Medtrade Spring, an honor that factors in the company’s booth, and the overall creativity of that booth’s marketing. Tracey Jones, marketing coordinator, DME Train, credits a marketing campaign that sparked curiosity for attendees and generated buzz around the company’s online employee education system.
“To introduce our theme—‘Unlock your education solution’—at Medtrade Spring, we sent out a direct mail piece to attendees,” she explains. “The package contained a personalized skeleton key, dry-erase marker, and a postcard. The postcard directed them to confirm receipt of their package on our Web site where they could then view product information, calculate savings on our product at Medtrade Spring, and read testimonials.”
Attendees who brought their key to the DME Train booth to “unlock their education solution” were entered to win a $500 American Express gift card. “We suggested that they use the dry-erase marker to write their own ‘key’ to success in our booth,” says Jones. “We also gave Web site visitors the ability to ‘request a key’ and they were sent their own package. This way we could generate curiosity around what we were planning to do at the booth.”
All Medtrade Spring award winners will get another chance to flex their creativity during Medtrade 2013, October 7-10, at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Fla.