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FORT WAYNE (WANE) — In 2020, Quality Biomedical opened its eighth facility in the country in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That led to Fort Wayne being one of the main national hubs for refurbished oxygen concentrators.

Quality Biomedical’s Fort Wayne service Manager, Mary Pancake, says she has seen the need for the devices continue to grow due to the pandemic. Because these machines can be very expensive to buy new, the need for refurbished ones is even higher. Fort Wayne’s location serves Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and parts of Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Quality Biomedical has a group of certified technicians who clean the machines, replace parts, and put them through a screening process to ensure they won’t fail after being shipped out. Pancake said their facility on South Anthony Blvd. currently has roughly 3,000 devices waiting to be serviced, and they get about 100 more to work on daily.

Those high numbers have the staff at Quality Biomedical working overtime. Pancake said the technicians are usually working 60 hours per week to keep things moving.

“We save lives every single day, and that’s what my associates will all tell you. Their biggest thing is they know that they’ve helped someone,” Pancake said.

All of the technicians talk about how important their job is to them. It’s especially important to technician Tiffany Moses because the necessary use of an oxygen concentrator hits close to home for her.

“My grandmother and my mother are on these. So, it’s important to me that it get’s done correctly and that it goes out the door efficiently running the way it’s supposed to be running,” Moses said.

Right now, Quality Biomedical is swamped with the high demand for oxygen concentrators. Pancake said they hope to move into a bigger building and grow the staff. She added that the hope is that the pandemic will eventually slow down and allow them to work on other needs in the healthcare industry along with the work the business has done locally to help the Fort Wayne community.

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