It started with Sharon.
When my mother-in-law, Sharon, was put on supplemental oxygen after contracting COVID, we became her caregivers. She had COPD, severe scoliosis, chronic pain — and a stubbornness about staying on her feet that scared the heck out of us. She was remarkably agile navigating the tubing around the house, but we were still afraid to leave her home alone. One trip, one fall, and everything changes for someone in her condition.
My wife Tracy and I started looking for anything that could get the tubing off the floor. What we found was either nonexistent or impractical — retractable reels with remote controls, self-winding gadgets, devices that put something else in the patient's hands. Anyone who has cared for someone aging or ill knows the problem with that: they'll fixate on the device instead of where they're walking, and you've just traded one fall hazard for another.
So we started simple. Camping line and eye bolts screwed into the ceiling. It was ugly, but it worked — and it told us the idea was right. From there, we kept refining: a smooth track, sliding carriers, fixed attachment points that let the tubing glide overhead and spring back into shape like a slinky. No gadgets. No batteries. Nothing to hold or think about.
Sharon was our first believer. She's the one who told us, again and again, to get this out into the world. A lot of people could benefit from it, she said. So that's what we're doing.
