Self Pump pumps up self-reliance: Invention will aid those recovering from surgery or broken bones
Anyone who has had surgery or a cast to heal a broken bone knows how much independence is lost. Help is necessary for simple tasks like taking a bath, if a bath is even allowed. Ken R. hopes his invention will bring that to an end. Ken has developed the Self Pump, a device that keeps surgical wounds and casts clean and dry. He couldn't give a detailed description of the product because it is still being prepared for production but he said the hand-held device will fit over the area and can be pumped up to allow a convalescent person to care for him or herself. "You'd be able to put it on like you put your shirt on," he said. "It's pretty much all about independence first. I think it's going to revolutionize the industry." The idea came to him after being laid up with an injury several times over the years.
He's had knee surgery, ankle surgeries and third-degree burns. "I've been stitched up so many times, I can't believe I look as good as I do," said Ken, who has for 25 years in auto body shops. He got his first job sweeping up around shops and moved along from there. But auto body work sometimes takes a toll on the human body, as Ken has learned, and sometimes he would have to be laid up from a job injury. At one point, he was on his back for nine months with an injury. All along, though, he didn't like having to rely on others, especially to bathe. "When you're down and out and you have to rely on other people, you have to wait around.
You're not doing yourself any favors," he said. His most recent stint being laid up came in May when he broke his ankle. "I said, 'There's got to be a better way'," he said. "You take a lot of things for granted when you're injured, you know, in your regular life." He searched all kinds of pharmaceutical stores and didn't find any products like his. "I went everywhere looking for something. They do have some things, but they just don't work," he said. The Self Pump came to mind, and that was it. He came up with a test piece and showed it to a friend whose wife was recovering too. "He and his wife were looking over the idea, and asked, 'Where can I get one?' His wife was looking at it and was wondering where she could get one now," Ken said. He hopes that once the Self Pump comes to market that others will ask the same question.