DailyBreath was an aspirational business idea generated by a lightbulb moment when my sister, suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), said to me, casually, “Eric, you should develop a mobile app that would inform me of when my RA is going to flare-up based on weather changes.”
From this inspirational moment, I researched the impact of environmental factors as a determinant of health and decided to target allergy and asthma sufferers because of the readily apparent weather and environmental impacts and, frankly, from a business perspective, the market size. I had no personal anecdote that compelled me in this direction. I was certainly surprised to learn the number of asthma attacks in the US daily, 30,000, of which 5,000 result in an ER visit, and 1,000 of those, result in a long-term inpatient hospital stay. I was shocked to learn that, tragically, 11 people die every day from an asthma attack. I had never thought of asthma as deadly.
When I explored the issue of allergies and asthma, I realized there were significant gaps in the understanding of triggers, and the education of asthma patients, especially those with allergies, and between patients and providers, as to the management of their condition and the prevention of asthma attacks. The more I learned, the more my business idea emerged as a compelling need to help asthma sufferers manage and control the negative health outcomes that are triggered by the weather and their surroundings.
In my last blog, I detailed one of the many tragedies that occur daily because of an asthma attack. While viewing the GoFundMe page hoping to raise funds to for the asthma patient who experienced a tragic respiratory attack with long-term health implications, I decided to search the site using the terms, ‘asthma’ and ‘tragedy’. Hundreds of campaigns came up. One story after another detailing a family’s tragedy due to asthma, and often the result of weather and environmental exposures. This realization has changed a business into a mission and created a passionate desire to help all allergy and asthma sufferers, but especially, those who may be at risk of these often-preventable asthma attacks.
Asthma sufferers feel they are at the mercy of the weather and their environment, but as with anything, if you measure the impacts, you gain knowledge, and with knowledge you can manage and control the risks. DailyBreath is an app aimed at measuring risk, making preventative recommendations, and doing a better job of helping each individual asthma patient become more aware of their personal triggers so that they can, hopefully, avoid negative outcomes.