Breathing New Life into Oxygen Therapy

Respiratory therapist Valerie Obenchain was tired of watching her COPD patients return to the hospital with complications that could have been avoided with better supplemental oxygen monitoring at home. It was when her own grandmother began having issues that she decided to do something and founded ADVANCED INTERACTIVE RESPONSE SYSTEMS (AIRS). 

“𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘹𝘺𝘨𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘴,” Valerie said. “𝘖𝘹𝘺𝘨𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺.”

AIRS’ oxygen flow monitor (OFM) is the first device to continuously track both the oxygen supply and patient, securely streaming data to a HIPAA-compliant cloud portal, enabling remote monitoring by respiratory therapists and caregivers. AIRS is bringing telemedicine to supplemental oxygen therapy. 

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death worldwide, and oxygen therapy is central to managing it. Current systems are prone to hidden failures like:

●       Disconnections, leaks and kinks

●       Depleted tanks and improper oxygen titration

Patients may receive too little or too much oxygen, both of which carry serious risks. Clinicians, meanwhile, often lack real-time insights, relying on intermittent spot checks that can miss critical changes.

We are proud to support AIRS, which was selected for the 2024 Conquer Detroit Accelerator, a partnership between the MSU Research Foundation and Henry Ford Health. From this program, and with assistance from Henry Ford Innovations, AIRS partnered with Henry Ford pulmonary physicians to design a clinical feasibility study now underway at Henry Ford’s 𝗣𝘂𝗹𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿.

Using the knowledge gained from the study, AIRS hopes to have FDA approval to begin production of the device in 2026. Target markets include hospitals, nursing homes, home health, and oxygen suppliers where the idea is to provide safer care and a better quality of life for patients living with COPD and other pulmonary diseases that require supplemental oxygen therapy.

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