NEWAYGO, MI – During last month’s Medtrade, Valerie Obenchain, founder and CEO, Advanced Interactive Response Systems (AIRS), Newaygo, Mich, debuted The Breathe Easy Moisture Exchange Cannula. The new moisture exchange tubing automatically humidifies oxygen to mimic the environment, and can replace the need for a humidifier.

As a registered respiratory therapist for the past two decades, Obenchain has seen a lot of needs go unmet, and it was her desire to do something about it that sparked the creation of AIRS. “Our first product takes the water out of the air and instantly humidifies that oxygen going to the patient,” says Obenchain. “It’s a clean and portable way to humidify. Currently there is not a good portable way to humidify oxygen. And when you breathe in that really dry air, it’s not pleasant. Now there is a solution.”

Medtrade attendees during last month’s show at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta reacted positively to The Breathe Easy, which is now FDA registered and ready for the market. “We also have a whole line of digital health products that we are also working on,” Obenchain reveals, “including an app that can track oxygen parameters and send text message alerts.”

According to Obenchain, The Moisture Exchange Nasal Cannula, a clean and portable solution to humidifying oxygen, is used with standard oxygen equipment. “Our portable moisture exchange [ME] tubing requires no water,” she adds. “The antimicrobial technology takes water particles from the air and humidifies the oxygen flowing through it. The ME tubing lasts up to 6 months and the nasal cannula is still changed on a regular basis. The kit includes one ME tubing and your choice for the quantities of nasal cannulas, which attach to the ME tubing.”