Read his story below. Meet him at Impact Showcase & Awards on March 3, 2022.
At its core, the Impact Showcase and Awards is about celebrating entrepreneurs who are using tech to impact lives in a positive way.
Russ Campbell fits this description to a T.
I want you to picture your favorite food in your head. Got it? Now imagine that you never can have that food again. How does that feel?”
This is the reality for those with swallowing disorders.
The most common treatments for swallowing disorders are consuming thick liquids and ground up/pureed foods (not very appetizing) or getting sustenance through a feeding tube.
This is no way to live.
Ampcare realized this and set out to provide an option that increases quality of life. What Ampcare does is rehabilitate the muscles that move the airway to help patients learn to swallow again.
Patients who have suffered strokes, and have neurological diseases (such as Parkinson’s) or head and neck cancer, have lost that protection and develop an inability to swallow; that not only restricts what they can eat, but can lead to major medical complications, such as pneumonia. Largely because of swallowing disorders, pneumonia is a leading cause of death of Americans over 65 years of age.
The founders of Ampcare do turn a profit, but by no means is that their first priority. “Rick McAdoo, Ronda Polansky and I are clinicians first,” Russ said. “We developed this technology to improve the health status and quality of life for people suffering from swallowing disorders. It sounds cliché for healthcare professionals to say we entered the field ‘to help others’, but the three of us believe that the income or fringe benefits would never outweigh the satisfaction we gain from helping others.”
Unlike many medical technology companies that deem themselves successful after a sale or IPO, Ampcare founders say they had ‘’made it’’ as a company when they were able to wean their first patient off of feeding tubes and onto a regular diet.
To date, clinicians in the United States, Japan, U.K., Ireland and Hong Kong are treating people with its technology, and Ampcare does not want to stop there.
“We are days away from launching in Latin/South America and the Middle East,” Russ said. “We developed this company because we saw a need in the profession for improving the treatment options for patients suffering from swallowing disorders.
“Our ability to train healthcare professionals throughout the world ensures us that this technology will have a greater impact on our world than the three of us ever could have imagined. Our motto has been, ‘If you know the way, light the path for others.’ Our company is lighting that path and that is how we know we have made it.”
Ampcare’s earned break was receiving FDA Clearance(s) on 10/15/2012 and 10/31/2013. It formed in 2007 and spent nearly 3½ years seeking FDA Clearance. After agreeing to work with TechFW and former Executive Director Darlene Boudreaux, it put a plan in place to find a regulatory agency to assist. Within one year of selecting a regulatory team, it received partial FDA-Clearance and after two years, received full clearance. This enabled Ampcare to begin selling the technology and changing the world.
Though Ampcare has seen much success, the company maintains a posture of humility knowing that there is always more to be learned. Russ’ words of advice to aspiring tech entrepreneurs who want to take a similar path is: “If just a word of advice: PLAN; if two words: FAIL FAST; if three words: NEVER STOP LEARNING.”