Why Does Ventilator Usage Increase in the Winter?

November 12, 2019
Why Does Ventilator Usage Increase in the Winter?

Why Does Ventilator Usage Increase in the Winter?

As soon as the weather gets cold, we see an increase in the amount of ventilators that are requested during these colder months. Many medical conditions require people to be on ventilators. Many diseases listed below include asthma, the flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia all can compromise a person’s respiratory capabilities. Fortunately, Soma sells ventilators to combat all of these diseases. Click to read about the Maquet Servo i and the Drager Evita Infinity.

The Cold Weather

An increased number of people have respiratory failure during the winter for many reasons. The weather is one of the culprits. It is harder to breathe in the cold weather. The frigid temperatures do not allow your lungs, capillaries, and veins to expand as much as they do during the other seasons. It is significantly harder to breathe due to constriction. Try to stay indoors as much as you can if you have respiratory illness. Ask your doctor if you may need a home nebulizer.

Asthma

People with asthma will chronically experience trouble breathing. Asthma is the inflammation of the lungs that makes it difficult to move the air in and out. People with asthma may experience chest pain, coughing, wheezing, and a combination of them. Extreme weather changes such as blistering cold weather can trigger an asthma attack. These are severe cases when a person suddenly has extreme danger in breathing. They oftentimes are aided by emergency inhalers.

The Flu

Unfortunately, it is also flu season. The flu is a respiratory infection transmitted by the influenza virus. Flu symptoms include muscle aches and pains, coughing, sneezing, head colds, nausea, and feeling very chilly. People who have the flu oftentimes take about a week to recover and some may require hospitalization.

Bronchitis

Bronchitis is a respiratory ailment that affects the bronchial tubes. This makes it very hard to get air to and from your lungs. Bronchitis can last for a few weeks. Sometimes it is so severe that it puts people in the hospital and on ventilators.

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is one of the most severe respiratory illnesses. Pneumonia affects the air sacs in the lungs. These sacs can fill up with pus or fluid. This disease can be fatal if left untreated. If you have the symptoms of coughing up phlegm, mucus, or pus, or having fever, chills, and difficulty breathing please seek immediate help. Anyone can die from pneumonia.

Bonus: Vaping

While this new form of smoking is not directly related to the winter, every day we are seeing more people hospitalized from the illegal consumption of certain oils. Recently there was an article that linked Vitamin E acetate as the ingredient found in victims’ lungs. This has been used in some forms of THC  (the active ingredient in marijuana) oil cartridges. Those who have fallen sick to the use of some black market vape oils are now on ventilators because their lungs are compromised. Some of these people are permanently on ventilators, and some of them have even died. It is best if you use vapes to slowly transition off of them. You may need to see a specialist if you are trying to quit, but you find yourself also being addicted. Currently, there are a few states that have a ban on businesses selling vapes at the local level. We implore you to not ingest anything that is a known carcinogen as well. If you find yourself on a ventilator, we do have some great options…

Siemens Maquet Servo i - Ventilator System - Soma Technology, Inc.

Servo-i

The Siemens Maquet Servo-i is a widely requested ventilator and is used in many different medical facilities. This ventilator can be used on a variety of patients from neonates, and pediatrics to adults. This easy-to-use ventilator features invasive ventilation, noninvasive ventilation with leak compensation, a carbon dioxide analyzer, nasal CPAP, heliox, and a ventilation record card. The height of this ventilator is a little under 52 inches and it weighs a little more than 44 pounds.

Drager Evita Infinity V500 Ventilator - Soma Technology, Inc.

Drager Evita Infinity V500

The Drager Infinity V500 is one of our most requested ventilators. This unit delivers effective respiratory treatment options. Features include lung diagnostic tools like Low Flow, breath-by-breath recruitment trends, PC-APRV, and volumetric carbon dioxide monitoring. Other features include a weaning parameter and variable pressure support. proportional pressure support, automatic tube compensation. This machine can be used on patients from neonates through adults.

Purchasing or Renting a Ventilator

Did you know Soma offers rent-to-own options for most of our product categories? There are many reasons that people choose to rent over purchase. Firstly, during the winter and colder months, more cases of the flu and other respiratory illnesses cause an increase in patient census in medical facilities. Some places choose to rent ventilators because they need equipment as soon as possible. Soma has many rentals that are available for use, especially during emergencies! A few other reasons why people choose to rent include that they do not have enough money in their capital budget to purchase, but need these machines quickly. The benefits of rentals include having no downtime due to repairs, ensuring flexibility when upgrading to the newest technology, avoiding acquisition and maintenance costs on equipment, and avoiding maintenance costs on equipment.

If you do choose to purchase a ventilator, we have a great team of sales representatives who can help you pick the ventilator that is right for your medical facility. Make sure to take advantage of the Section 179 tax deduction. If you purchase capital equipment you may be able to get a large tax deduction from your spending. Please call 1-800-GET-SOMA, email [email protected], or you can put in a direct quote request on our website. Our sales representatives are happy to help with any capital equipment purchasing needs or to help you expand on any current projects that you may have.

Ventilator Spare Parts

Soma Technology keeps a wide range of parts stocked for all medical equipment that we sell. We have many spare parts available on our medical parts website. We have many different ventilator spare parts including leak detectors, cable service kits, pressure switches, patient circuits, power supply modules, and more. You can request to buy any parts from the parts website, or by calling 1-860-578-1033, or emailing [email protected].

Final Thoughts

Have you noticed that your medical facility needs more ventilators for an increase in patient census when the weather is colder? Do you attribute this to more people being sick in the winter, or that this is when many respiratory diseases are making a more severe mark? Does your facility need to purchase or rent ventilators? Did you know that Soma has rentals and a rent-to-own option available? Have you ever used the Drager or Maquet brands? Is there a reason that you prefer one over another? Comment below!

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