Flex Arm Camera Allows Parents to Look in on Their NICU Preemies

We love engineering solutions more than anything — but it’s not just because of the theoretical problem solving, it’s because it has real-world implications. There’s no better illustration of this than our work with AngelEye Health and their flex arm camera. AngelEye has been getting some great press lately because of their work with hospitals to help better connect mothers with preemie babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Parents Struggle Leaving their Preemies at the Hospital

We worked with the AngelEye Camera team to offer a flexible solution for parents to connect with their newborns. For the protection of many preemies, visitation is extremely limited. That’s because their immune systems just aren’t able to fight the bacteria that our bodies come in contact with on a daily basis. This can be extremely painful to new parents, who just want to see their kids. While most parents can visit during the day, at night visitation rules often force them home — where they have no real way to know what is going on with their child.

A Flex Arm Camera to See their Newborns in the NICU

That’s why the AngelEye Camera was invented. Using a mountable flex arm camera, the AngelEye provides a birds-eye camera view of a baby through a webcam that streams to a secure account. That account can be accessed by anyone with a link from their laptops, smartphones, or tablets. It’s a huge way for parents to connect with their newborns — but also for family members who live across the country and want to stay connected.

Interview with Kat Kays and Justin French

We recently talked with Kat Kays and Justin French, the Clinical Relations rep and CTO of AngelEye Health about how they worked with us to develop their product. We think it’s best for them to speak in their own words, so here’s a condensed version of our interview!

How Did the Flex Arm Help this Camera?

We designed an amazing camera, but what’s a camera if you can’t mount it to see what you need to see? Moffatt solved a lot of the issues that we ran into when we needed a flex arm to be versatile and fit different hospital bed space configurations. The arm itself is as important as the actual technology that we are providing to our hospital partners.

How Do Hospitals Feel about This Solution?

Without confidence in the flex arm, our hospital partners don’t have confidence in our camera. It has to be mounted, it has to be secure, and they have to trust in the flex arm as much as the camera. Moffatt helped us create just that — a flex arm camera that stayed in place.

What Were the Problems You Ran into Early On? 

We spent a lot of time trying to piece together something instead of looking at the root of the problem, which was the flex arm itself. Moffatt helped us create a flex arm that could endure the wear and tear of a hospital, including harsh chemicals and constant use. We were using an off-the-shelf product with a lot of issues, all based on the flex arm not being flexible enough. Moffatt gave us confidence that they knew the space and helped us develop a custom solution.

How Did the Approval Process Work?

As a medical device company, we have a strict evaluation process for delivery, performance, quality, and customer service. Moffatt has passed and done well year over year. We are currently working with them to add power to the flex arm.

There you go! We love to hear stories like this. We’ve worked with tons of medical device manufacturers over the years and it’s always so rewarding to get feedback and hear how a product is helping people and changing lives.