When you have received a COPD diagnosis, it is often followed by a prescription for medical grade oxygen.

You are left feeling overwhelmed with a wealth of new knowledge you must retain. With COPD you may have a need for supplemental medical grade oxygen. Medical grade oxygen treatment is typically delivered through a tube with two nasal prongs. This is better known as a nasal cannula.

Nasal cannulas are designed to be inserted into your nostrils and attached to your portable or home oxygen concentrator. Meaning they become dirty very quickly and regularly. So you need to make it a top priority to regularly replace and clean your nasal cannulas.

Reading COPD forums and blogs, there are countless patients saying something along the lines of “my oxygen provider tells me to only change my nasal cannula after I’ve had a respiratory infection, such as a cold.” Or “with regular cleaning you should only replace your nasal cannula 1-2 times a month.”

The beginning of March means the beginning of travel season. It used to be that those prescribed medical oxygen were confined to short day trips, but no longer. Airlines allow approved portable oxygen concentrator use while flying. All of the portable concentrators that we sell at 1st Class Medical are FAA approved for in-flight use and carrying aboard even when not in use. 

By far, the most common question our respiratory specialists get asked on the phone is, "Does Medicare or insurance cover the cost of a Portable Oxygen Concentrator?" The answer is sometimes, "yes," but unfortunately, is often, “no”. As much as concentrators enhance the lives of our patients, they are largely regarded as luxury items. It’s strange to think of oxygen as a luxury but that’s the way insurance companies see it. Oxygen is covered under Medicare guidelines under certain conditions.

This post was updated: 2/28/2018

Well, 2017 has wrapped up and I think we can all agree that it's be one crazy year, even in the oxygen industry... We've seen some groundbreaking technology get released, we've seen a couple of brand new concentrators get released, and that's just the tip of the iceberg when we look forward to 2018.

As of right now, the need for supplemental oxygen is on the rise and has never been greater. Over the past 9 years, portable oxygen concentrators have been evolving from being expensive, big, bulky, and unreliable machines to extremely lightweight, compact, more economic and far more reliable medical devices. With the powerful uptrend portable oxygen concentrators have gained, it's a wonder why more HME companies do not carry them. As for the HME companies that do carry portable oxygen concentrators, they tend to have a minimal amount in-stock, use them only for rentals, or have old outdated machines. With HME companies having limited supplies and portables costing patients as much as $4,000 out of pocket, it's not that easy for patients to obtain one.

Just recently, Caleb Umstead, Director of Customer Education at 1st Class Medical, was interviewed on the talk show First Coast Living by the Emmy Award winning television host, Casey Black DeSantis. In this interview, which can be seen above, Casey DeSantis talks with Caleb Umstead about the LifeChoice Activox portable oxygen concentrator, our new program Helping Heroes with Operation Orion, and COPD. To learn more about our Helping Heroes program or to donate to the program, there is a link on the bottom of the page that you can click on. Below is a transcript of the interview. 

As a medical oxygen patient you don't want to be weighed down by excess weight from standard and cumbersome oxygen tanks. Experience the freedoms that portable oxygen concentrators provide, but choosing the right oxygen concentrator can be somewhat overwhelming. Which is why we will be doing a review on the LifeChoice Activox Pro portable oxygen concentrator, to help you short out the differences in machines and ultimately receive the right portable oxygen concentrator for your needs.

Oxygen patients that choose the SeQual Eclipse 5 portable oxygen concentrator have the ability to do a wide array of activities since the Eclipse 5 offers both continuous and pulse dose flow delivery methods. The SeQual Eclipse 5 portable oxygen concentrator delivers exceptional battery life, so patients on the go can be assured that they won't go a minute without their medical grade oxygen. If you are in the market for a portable oxygen concentrator that delivers both pulse and continuous flow that will give you the freedom to do what you want, then the SeQual Eclipse 5 should be at the top of your list!

For oxygen therapy patients, there was a time when many faced using bulky, cumbersome, and inconvenient oxygen tanks, bottles, and liquid oxygen. These items needed to be refilled regularly. As a result, the patient's ability to be out and about was limited.

Portable oxygen concentrators (POCs) have brought these patients a wide range of benefits, improving their quality of life and increasing their ability to enjoy new activities that they might not have otherwise experienced.

It is a known fact that portable oxygen concentrators (POCs) improve the lives of oxygen therapy patients. They enable these patients to have active lifestyles that include activities such as gardening, fishing, golfing, and hunting.