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Umbian in the Media
U-Sleep aims to keep truckers alert, safe - Chronicle Herald
Oct 05 2011
U-Sleep aims to keep truckers alert, safe
Remo Zaccagna, Business Reporter
A Halifax company has developed technology that it says will help long-haul truck drivers stay awake.
U-Sleep, web-based software that tracks drivers’ use of therapeutic devices in the treatment of sleep apnea, was released Tuesday, said Umbian Inc.
The company conducted several months of trials in conjunction with The Snore Shop, a Nova Scotia chain of sleep therapy clinics.
The pilot program involved Continuous Positive Airway Pressure devices.
"Average industry compliance for people that are new to CPAP is somewhere around 50 per cent," said Umbian president Raj Sodhi. "So there’s a 50 per cent failure rate for people that are new to CPAP.
"And in our pilot, we were able to get it to just over 90 per cent for the patients."
U-Sleep can also monitor whether patients are getting effective treatment.
"Because sometimes using the machine doesn’t mean it’s working," Sodhi said.
U-Sleep records activations of sleep-therapy devices on a miniature memory card. The card can also record patterns of use and other relevant data, which can be transmitted manually by the patient, or by wireless or wired modem directly from the device, or uploaded via computer at home or at a sleep clinic to a base computer where the information can be viewed.
Notifications of compliance can be sent to the various stakeholders by phone, text message or email.
In the past, Sodhi said, similar software has been made available only to sleep clinics.
"But what we’ve done is we’re extending it to the employer so they can get a non-medical view of who’s safe and who’s not. But we’re also giving it to the patient, because often the patient doesn’t know what their status is. And that’s the biggest benefit because the patient really gets to see where they stand."
The technology can also be extended beyond the trucking industry to public transportation, aviation and marine and rail transportation.
Sodhi said the software has been getting a mixed reaction from truckers.
"Some of them that have adopted CPAP will openly admit that it’s changed their life for the better. For those that are scared about their employment status, they’re hesitant to be watched, for lack of a better word."
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