DOTmed Certified Owner Jeff Weisman, RRT, is a registered respiratory therapist who has worked on the equipment side of the specialty since 1980. Unfortunately, Weisman suffered a personal setback in 1993 when he was hit by a car in a parking garage. At the time he was working part-time at repairs and sales and also as an RT. However, he turned that debilitating experience into a new business. Weisman Medical Enterprises, Indianapolis, Ind. brokers, buys and sells primarily respiratory equipment.

"I buy equipment from all parts of the U.S., from hospitals, and dealers including DOTmed people and resell to those who need it, or I hoard equipment," Weisman said. Customers include practitioners, hospitals and patients with a prescription. "There are waves of demand for many pieces of respiratory equipment."

He stocks pulse oximeters, BiPAPs, ventilators new and old, PB AP-5, PR-2, and Bird Mark 7, air compressors, oxygen tanks and tents, percussor equipment, respirators, spirometers, etc. "I bought out Puritan Bennett for ALL of their parts remaining for the AP-5 IPPB machines (respirators) in 1999," he said.

Weisman is a one-man band who has turned over repair operations to the top Midwestern biomedical engineering groups, outsourcing the technical piece to trusted vendors. "I don't have to go to service school for various machines if I have the outside contractors do the work like Midwest Biomedical Resources, Bemes, and A.M. Biomedical," he said. "I am a sole proprietor and I can't do everything. It's hard to work on machines and sales at the same time."

Weisman reports that sometimes older equipment serves important uses for practitioners and patients that new technology cannot perform. For instance, some older model IPPB (intermittent positive pressure breathing) machines are still used in respiratory therapy.

"I have asthma myself and prefer the IPPB machine over the newer Easy-PAP technology. IPPB pushes air at you like a BiPAP unit that helps people breathe at night. It creates pressure when you're breathing out and inhaling to push air at you. Many people don't have the inspiratory ability to use the Easy-PAP."

The IPPB machine pressurizes the lungs and the older machines can be set to assist patients with customized pressure settings. "Since they're no longer being manufactured, we can do with them as we need," he said. "We're increasing the high-end pressure and also the low-end pressure. People with problems like muscular dystrophy or MS need the additional assistance that these machines can provide."