Home Medical Equipment

Concentrators, hoists and alternating-air mattresses:

each of the three pieces worth real money comes in two kinds. A stationary concentrator sits on the floor, runs from the mains and hums through the night; a portable one runs on a battery, and on many models delivers oxygen in pulses with each breath rather than as a steady stream, so check that the prescription allows pulse delivery before choosing one. A mobile patient hoist is pumped by hand with a hydraulic lever or raised by a battery-powered electric actuator, and it is no use without a sling in the right size. An alternating-air mattress is a pad of cells laid over the bed’s own mattress, with a small pump that fills them in turn. The bed, the over-bed table and the commode chair are set out with wheelchairs across medical and mobility, and anything that helps someone get about on their own sits under mobility aids.

Concentrators and pumps on the grid around La Chorrera and Capira:

much of Panamá Oeste lives with power cuts and voltage dips, sometimes several a week, and anything built around a compressor feels both. A stationary concentrator stops the moment the power goes, an air mattress pump stops cycling, and repeated brownouts are hard on the circuit board of either. An electric hoist charges its battery and keeps lifting through a cut, and a hydraulic one never notices. If the equipment is going to Arraiján, the inland villages of Capira or anywhere the lights flicker, ask whether it ran on a voltage regulator: out there a portable with a charged battery is worth more than it is to someone with steady power.

Renting a concentrator against buying one:

a stationary concentrator costs roughly $700 to $1,300 new in Panama, a portable one more than twice that, and renting a stationary machine by the month runs to around $150. For a need counted in weeks the rental wins, while five to nine months of rent would have paid for a new machine. A used stationary unit is priced on its hours rather than its age: one that has run day and night for a couple of years has used up much of its sieve beds, while one that ran for a few months after a hospital stay is close to new and should be priced near the bottom of the new band.

Hour counters, sieve beds and hoist batteries:

start a used concentrator from cold and let it run while you talk. Most stationary units show total running hours on a counter, and that figure should square with the seller’s story. If there is a purity indicator, it should settle on normal once the machine has warmed up, and an alarm that will not clear points to worn sieve beds, the costliest repair. The tubing, cannula and humidifier bottle are personal and cheap, and a buyer replaces them anyway. On a hoist, raise and lower it fully with weight in the sling, open and close the legs, and find the emergency lowering control; on an electric one, ask how old the battery is. On an air mattress, watch every cell fill in turn and check the hose couplings: a split cell can sometimes be replaced on its own, but a tired pump is the expensive part.

A concentrator or hoist leaving the house:

put the hours from the counter, the maximum flow and whether it is stationary or portable in the first line of the listing, and photograph the model label with the machine running. For a portable, say how many batteries come with it and how long a full charge lasts now, not when it was new. For a hoist, give the lifting capacity on the label, the sling size included and whether the charger is there. Change the intake filter before the photos, and mention the voltage regulator if it had one. Someone driving out from Arraiján to collect a concentrator will want to hear it start from cold and read the counter before it goes in the car, so have it unplugged and cool when they arrive.