Summit Medical’s ambIT Pain Pump Improves Quality of Life for Terminal Cancer Patient

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For late-stage pancreatic cancer patient Verne Smith, Summit Medical’s ambIT portable electronic infusion pain pump significantly improved his quality of life and the lives of those closest to him. In his final days, the ambIT pump helped Smith—who passed December 16, 2012—move from an inactive, painful state connected to an intravenous port in the hospital, to increased comfort and mobility. This allowed him to confidently travel across the country to visit friends and family, and even to become engaged to his girlfriend.

“We designed the ambIT pump to empower Verne and others like him everywhere to live life on their terms”

“The ambIT pump was able to make me a lot more mobile, so I could be more active and travel,” said Smith prior to his passing. “It put the minds of the people I love at ease, knowing that I was so much more free from pain and stress, and so much more alert than I was before.”

Summit Medical’s ambIT pump was designed to help patients and their caregivers manage pain at the hospital, at home or in other locations of the patients’ choosing. The highly cost-effective pump—typically one-fifth to one-tenth of the cost of competing pumps—provides exceptional pain control by factoring in such variables as severity of the patient’s procedure and condition, general patient activity levels, patient response to procedures, and the level and duration of their post-operative pain.

“We designed the ambIT pump to empower Verne and others like him everywhere to live life on their terms,” said LeVoy Haight, CEO of Summit Medical Products. “Because they are not tethered to a stationary machine plugged into a wall, forced to lug a heavy device around or deal with the complications and potential side effects of oral medications, our pump gives patients like Verne the freedom to spend their time on the activities and people of their choosing.”

The ambIT pump empowered Smith’s hospital and hospice caregivers to manage his pain in his home, which was 30 minutes from the hospital, and in other locations. Because the pump weighs less than 7 ounces with batteries and measures only 6.85 inches tall and 2.15 inches wide, he was able to easily negotiate airport security and fly to his boyhood home in New York, where he spent quality time with his fiancée, childhood friends and family prior to his passing. Smith’s nurses were able to quickly train his new fiancée in how to use the pump to effectively manage his pain so he could enjoy his time with his loved ones.

The ambIT pump also offers exceptional flexibility of dosage and delivery. Patients can press a button on the ambIT infusion pump to self-administer a slightly increased dosage to the area that needs to be numbed, or it can be set to provide continuous infusion as prescribed by the physician. At the same time, the pump’s built-in safety device prevents overdosing.

The ambIT pump provided Smith and his caregivers with the tools to make him active, mobile and comfortable in his final days, so he was able to experience a proper farewell in the company of the people he loved most.

About Summit Medical Products

Summit Medical Products is the developer and manufacturer of the innovative ambIT line of pain management systems, including the innovative ambIT pumps—small, lightweight, portable electronic infusion pumps that provide patients and their caregivers with exceptional flexibility, ease of use and safety at one-fifth to one-tenth the cost of competing durable medical equipment (DME) ambulatory pumps. The ambIT family of pumps, based on proprietary technologies, have been rigorously tested and refined to enable patients to receive highly effective pain relief in hospital settings, at home or anywhere the patient needs to be. For more information about the ambIT family of infusion pumps, visit www.ambitpump.com.