A Chat with Brooke Edell, Case Manager, St. Joseph's Children’s Hospital

Q: How do families react when you bring in the FreeArm Muscle for the first time?
A: Families have been very receptive to the FreeArm Muscle. Usually within minutes of playing with it, they do not want to relinquish it.

Q: How many FreeArm Muscles does your hospital have?
A: I believe we have 40. I have given away about 10 so far.

Q: Where is your favorite place to use the FreeArm Muscle?
A: The families that seem to be most appreciative of the FreeArm Muscle are older adolescents that have had feeding tubes for a long time. The patients are mostly bolus fed & the families love the freedom, independence, mobility and inclusion that the FreeArm Muscle offers.

Q: Why do you like the FreeArm Muscle?
A: I love the FreeArm Muscle as a case manager. It has really impacted patient recovery and satisfaction of the families beginning to use it in the hospital. I offer this rather than a Farrell bag venting system. It usually resolves gas, fussiness and distention immediately. It has created a trusting environment between me and my families and they have truly embraced the benefits in very ingenious ways. One patient now clips it on their bunk bed at home. Ultimately, my vision is that the transport team sees the safety component in this product for taking patients to procedures within the hospital and it would be the only product used by the patient’s DME at discharge.

Thank you for allowing my patients to benefit from this life changing product. Its simplicity is deceiving. It has truly enabled tethered patients to have freedom and portability that was once impossible.