Dry Solution for Lab Efficiency

When you think of sleep accessories, you may not think of small, efficient dryers—but the makers of the Hurricane Dryer hope to change all that.

Sam Martinez of SiestaMed, Ventura, Calif believes sleep disorders are massively undiagnosed, and the market will only grow. After seeing the haphazard way in which many labs went about drying their supplies, they designed a solution called the Hurricane Dryer. The Hurricane is specifically designed for the space and financial limitations of sleep centers. Now that the product is on the market, we chatted with co-designer Sam Martinez about the Hurricane, and the rationale behind it.

Sleep Diagnostics & Therapy: How and Why did You Develop the Hurricane Dryer?

Martinez: The hurricane dryer was developed and designed by myself and David Kassel, who manages sleep laboratories in the community where we live. The impetus was to cleanse products used in sleep diagnostics, and also for home sleep users to gain greater efficiencies in the sleep center—but also to help compliance for the home CPAP user.

The dryer allows sleep lab owners and CPAP users to have clean products on a daily basis, as recommended by the manufacturer, and to get sleep products and accessories dried in a period of time that fits into tight schedules. For sleep laboratories, this improves efficiencies, decreases labor costs, and it also boosts the ambience of the lab itself, leading to a less haphazard appearance. With the hurricane dryer, there are no products lying around or hanging on IV poles. The efficiencies are cleaning the product, drying the product, and putting them away—not allowing anything to lie around aimlessly.

SDT: Some Sleep Labs Might be Concerned about the Footprint/Size of the Machine. How have You Addressed these Concerns?

Martinez: We heavily considered the footprint size and the space size, knowing that laboratories are all different sizes, with different rooms available. The approximate size of our unit is 2 feet by 2 feet by 15 inches in height. That allows for a small enough counter space, just a bit larger than a bread box, and allows you to cleanse without a great deal of movement, and without a great deal of displacement of any other supplies. And you can keep it visible, in sight, and on top. It meets pretty much all the needs of sleep labs with regard to size. With the HE unit, it has one third the footprint of our SE Unit.

Now, the future says smaller is better. In the next generation of HE 3, we would like to create a smaller footprint than the current HE. The home market people are going to want to find spaces for it—maybe the bed side, laundry room, or a bath room—to clean these supplies and dry them. So we would love for them to get smaller, but right now we feel confident with their footprint sizes.

SDT: For Hospital-Based Sleep Centers, Is there a Breakdown that Illustrates the Nature of the Product?

Martinez: We have found in the hospitals that there is a concern from the biomedical department that electrical and other components of our unit be compatible in all facets. We have made the unit very simple, and we disclose all of the information with a schematic that shows electrical and internal mechanisms on our Web site, and that can be pulled up at www.siestamed.com

SDT: On a Practical Level, How are Masks and other Accessories Typically used in the Dryer?

Martinez: Generally, most all product users and sleep laboratories will try to follow and comply with manufacturer specifications for cleansing, and cleanse items daily after each use. We want to assist in that cleansing process by having them pre-soak, cleanse, and go into our hurricane dryer and dry it complete inside 60 minutes—allowing individual home users a time period where they can fit this into their daily schedule and get things put away before work or play. For sleep laboratories, it is the same process and can be used to save labor costs and to save space.

SDT: Many Labs are Creatures of Habit, and they have been Hanging their Supplies up for years. Why should they change?

Martinez: Change is inevitable and should be looked upon by everyone as a bettering of oneself, your company, and your performance. We encourage lab owners to bring the hurricane in and use it to realize the efficiencies that can be brought into your laboratory, and enhance compliance to the end user.

SDT: Is there any Reason Why a Sleep Center would not want to Purchase this Product?

Martinez: There are many personalities out there that are different. At the APSS, we encountered a number of wonderful clinicians and physicians, many of those clinicians and physicians looked at the hurricane dryer with marvel and enjoyment, and said "We can't wait to bring this into our laboratory." But we also had individuals who said to us, "I do not have a problem with hanging my supplies up over a doorway, or allowing my supplies to dry overnight." The most important thing to look at is making individuals happy, encouraging change, and perhaps we will change some perceptions along the way.

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