Local nurse hoping to fund invention through reality TV show Shark Tank

Above, Connie Monhollen, of Williamsburg, is a nurse at Baptist Health Corbin’s Infusion Clinic. She’s come up with a concept for a tamper-resistant cap that woudl help prevent unauthorized use of IV lines. She’s hoping to bring her invention to market through the reality TV show Shark Tank.

The old English proverb “Necessity is the mother of invention” couldn’t be more true than in the case of Connie Monhollen.

Monhollen, 51, is currently employed in the Infusion Clinic at Baptist Health Corbin. She doesn’t fancy herself an inventor. But her experiences through 30 years of nursing have led her to the creations of a simple device that she hopes could solve an all to common problem.

She has a concept for a tamper-resistant cap that would be placed on all short and long term intravenous devices in order to prevent misuse.

Drug addicts will commonly use IVs, shunts, long-term catheters, etc. as a means through which to take their drug of choice.

Doctors install the devices for patients that need frequent doses of antibiotics or other medication.

“It’s unreal what goes on,” Monhollen said. “We have people that sign out of the hospital to go out to smoke and they inject bath salts in their car.”

“We have patients that walk into the emergency room and get an IV then walk out because they can’t get their own veins to use drugs. It’s that prevalent.”

In theory, she said, the tamper proof cap would be placed on all IV lines. Patients could not get access without breaking it in some way, alerting doctors to the fact that the IV had been misused.

“It’s not so much for the addicts as it is for the doctors,” she explained. “We could warn patients ahead of time that if you come in and this is tampered with, your therapy could be stopped. They may cut it off, but we will know. The doctors will know the rules were broken.”

Even if treatment continues, Monhollen says doctors could then make more informed decisions about whether a patient needs to actually be admitted to the hospital or given other sorts of therapy that could be more closely monitored.

Monhollen has created a company, Vascular Access Safety Solutions (VASS), to market her conceptual device, which currently exists as only a drawing. She wants to take it further, but that’s expensive. Already, she’s got a patent pending on the tamper-resistant cap. But the cost of hiring a medical engineer to draw of precise specifications, then have a mold made so that a prototype can be produced can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 she said.

“I work two jobs just to keep a roof over my head,” Monhollen explained. “I don’t have that kind of money lying around.”
She said she’s doesn’t want to ask co-workers for money for fear her dream of seeing the device brought to market could fall through.

Instead, she recently made the long trip to Salisbury, MD to shoot a short audition video for the ABC-TV show “Shark Tank.” On the hit reality show, would-be entrepreneurs pitch inventions and other ideas to investors in hopes of obtaining the venture capital necessary to move forward with their plan.

Monhollen said she decided to try out for the show at the advice of a co-worker. She missed a regional audition in Knoxville, Tenn. so instead made the long trip to Maryland to make her pitch.

The video appears on the on the website for ABC affiliate WMDT (www.wmdt.com) under the link for Delmarva’s Choice — a contest the station is running where a compilation of “Shark Tank” videos can be voted on by anyone. Voting ends June 5. The video that receives the most votes will receive $3,000 regardless of whether the inventor makes it onto the Shark Tank TV show.
Even if she doesn’t make it onto the show, Monhollen says she won’t stop trying to make her invention to market. For her, it’s personal.

Monhollen struggled with drug addiction after a series of surgeries years ago. She got addicted to painkillers, but was able to fight through her problems through her own will to quit and with the help of a supportive family.

“I got it all back, but it wasn’t without a lot of work,” Monhollen said. “I had to hit rock bottom … The thing about addiction is, once you’ve been there, it’s something you have to fight every day of your life.”

About 500 million short and long-term IV lines are installed in the U.S. every year. Monhollen said she ultimately wants to “change the standard of practice for nurses” by getting her invention to market so that insurers and government-sponsored health plans would start requiring it.

“I think everyone that puts an IV in should really stop and think about what they are doing and what they are giving access to,” she said. “Hopefully, this will be a tool that will give physicians information they need to make important decisions about people’s treatment.”

If you are interested in casting a vote for Monhollen’s video, you can do so by going online to: http://www.wmdt.com/delmarvas-choice/monhollen-connie-anti-vascular/33106004.