GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Inside the Doug Meijer Medical Innovation Building downtown, Austin and Alex Pollock have been working hard to launch a new project they've created. Their journey to owning a company called Reel Free started when someone very close to them got hurt.
"In April of 2022 our grandfather was on supplemental oxygen. He had pulmonary fibrosis. The long oxygen tubing, 50 feet of it, was tangled up at the foot of his bed. He got up in the middle of the night to use the restroom when he tripped and fell. That fall sent him to the hospital. Looking back on that, we could have prevented it," Austin said.
"He actually asked us to come up with a solution to organize that 50 feet of bright, green oxygen tubing. And that was the beginning of Reel Free."
Austin and Alex got to work right away on what they call the "Reel Mate." It's a remote-controlled device that winds up tubing on a reel, similar to what you'd see from a garden hose.
"We'd stay up super late at night. We were both working different jobs at the time. I mean, I remember staying up until 2 a.m. on a weeknight 3D printing different prototypes for him to test the next day and find a solution," Austin said.
"We were working on different prototypes for it. He was testing and using it. I posted a video of it on LinkedIn, and it went viral. From there, we realized there was a market for it, and there's other people that wanted a solution to their oxygen tubing."
It turns out, the problem is a much bigger problem than many people might realize.
"In my experience in the healthcare field as a home health aide, I work with these individuals on oxygen tubing every single day. I knew exactly how big the issue was for the patients on supplemental oxygen," Alex said.
"There's over 570,000 falls every year on supplemental oxygen, being the leading cause of injury for elderly patients and the third largest cause of injury for health providers."
The Pollock brothers have been working on different prototypes for two years, and they got some help from their grandfather as well.
"He was able to test and use the first couple versions and help us figure out what we needed to change and what worked for him. We're on, like, our 30th version of it, and hundreds and hundreds of different tested components that went into it," Austin said.
Their grandfather raised Austin and Alex to be Michigan State fans. Austin is now an MSU graduate and Alex expects to graduate this coming winter. Their Spartan roots are a big part of what's gotten them this far in their entrepreneurial journey.
"The Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship at Michigan State University has really been a huge help to us. They taught us every step along the way, getting to these milestones of these pitch competitions that we can go to and help raise money to support this process," Alex said.
The Pollock brothers expect that the Reel Mate will hit the market soon.
"We're partnering with Disher right now to help with design for manufacturing and launching at the end of this year, and we'll be selling through CareLinc," Austin said.
"With that launch, we want to host a community event in support of individuals with respiratory challenges, so we came up with a Lung Legacy Run. It's a 5K run and walk to support people with respiratory challenges."
That event is coming up on August 10 at Millennium Park in Walker. Part of the proceeds raised from the event will go to the COPD Foundation. If you're not interested in running, the Pollock brothers say there will be a live band and other entertainment for people to enjoy. You can register on Reel Free's website.
Unfortunately, their grandfather won't see the product go to market. He passed away in 2022, shortly after the work on the Reel Mate began. But the Pollock brothers believe he'd be proud of the invention they've created in his honor.
"I think what he would be most proud of is the impact that we're making as Spartans. He grew up bleeding green and white, and he pushed that on us. He inspired us to get there, and they've been such a huge help, and we couldn't do it without them," Alex said.
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