Oxygen for home use

[Anonymous]

My mother, who still lives at home, has recently been prescribed oxygen for a chronic lung condition. Her doctor, whom we generally like, hasn't provided any information about choices for oxygen delivery. The practice sent a prescription to a home care company that showed up with a concentrator for home use, with long tubing that practically invites tripping, and a portable concentrator that is bulky, noisy, and has a fairly short battery life.

My mother is still quite mobile, and could really benefit from an oxygen source that's convenient for out-of-home use. It could be useful at home too, because of the tripping hazard of the large concentrator's tubing.

My questions:

Does anyone have information about a source for general information about oxygen? Different equipment, types of oxygen, etc? I know there are limitations on what's covered by insurance, but we're willing to pay out of pocket for equipment that will enhance her quality of life.

Is liquid oxygen available for home use? Can you identify a supplier? A relative used this a while back and found it very convenient, but availability seems to be limited now.

Thanks in advance for any information you can offer. And - gotta love our great medical system that can roll out the high tech treatments, but offers limited support for chronic illness in the elderly.

[Anonymous]

My mother was on oxygen for several years. The large concentrators are noisy and the tubing is a hazard but she got used to that and moved the concentrator to another room so it wasn’t so noisy. Her medicare/insurance wouldn’t cover a portable unit in addition to the large one but she was able to buy a used one from a neighbor (not legal to sell medical equipment on the side but she knew the person (who had died) and the POC was fairly new and served her well. She could keep that in her walker and have shorter tubing.

My father in another state was able to get both a portable and large concentrator.

Both received O2 tanks in case of power failure. They are very heavy and not viable for regular use IMO. They were provided by the same home health agency that provided the concentrators.

There is a fair amount of info online about POC brands, weight, running time. They are $3k or more however. You might press the home health car agency to see if they can provide a portable one in addition to the large one.

[Anonymous]

PP here. We didn’t look into liquid oxygen.

This is the brand POC she had.

https://try.inogen.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My mother was on oxygen for several years. The large concentrators are noisy and the tubing is a hazard but she got used to that and moved the concentrator to another room so it wasn’t so noisy. Her medicare/insurance wouldn’t cover a portable unit in addition to the large one but she was able to buy a used one from a neighbor (not legal to sell medical equipment on the side but she knew the person (who had died) and the POC was fairly new and served her well. She could keep that in her walker and have shorter tubing.

My father in another state was able to get both a portable and large concentrator.

Both received O2 tanks in case of power failure. They are very heavy and not viable for regular use IMO. They were provided by the same home health agency that provided the concentrators.

There is a fair amount of info online about POC brands, weight, running time. They are $3k or more however. You might press the home health car agency to see if they can provide a portable one in addition to the large one.

My mom is similar in regards to the large concentrator. They get used to it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP here. We didn’t look into liquid oxygen.

This is the brand POC she had.

https://try.inogen.com/

My mom uses in inogen for her small portable one. It is a bit heavy (for her) but she likes it better than other options. She paid out of pocket. It broke the day after warranty needed. But they worked with her to get a replacement at no cost.
These also have parts that need to be periodically replaced, so be prepared for that as well.

[Anonymous]

My Dad had the large concentrator in the bedroom and only used it when sleeping. The rest of the time, he used the inogen portable. You can buy extra batteries. They have smaller batteries and larger batteries. He used the smaller ones when at home and switched to the larger ones when going out. And always plugged it in when in the car to preserve the battery. And always brought a back up battery and electrical cord in the car just in case.

He wore it over his shoulder like a purse, but I think they also have a way to wear it like a backpack. Or maybe try something like this
https://dmesupplyusa.com/catalog/product/view/id/44239/s/oxygo-next-cart/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA3uGqBhDdARIsAFeJ5r2d0C8bKaQ4dSzM3mNRMAghIovNNmn_Q-haTA58zg_3crsy4SEBmfcaAnBFEALw_wcB

And it became easier when he started to use a Rollator because he just put it in that to carry the weight.