Drinking Port Sustenance Device

Disease, pollution, and climate change have made face masks the new normal. Long hours of daily use can cause users serious health issues; one being lack of proper hydration and sustenance. It is nearly impossible to drink while wearing a mask without exposure because one must either lift their mask to drink or remove themself from the area where hazards are present. We designed Drinking Ports Sustenance Devices (Drinking Ports) for face masks, protecting the user while allowing for proper nutrition and hydration in hazardous environments. Nutrition and hydration are the most basic of human needs. Keeping ourselves properly fueled allows us to maintain physical and mental health, keeping us less prone to depression, stress, and disease. Global distribution of Drinking Ports would benefit those most at risk and vulnerable to disease and environmental hazards, whether their risk is higher due to immunity issues, socioeconomic status, or job-related exposure. 

People around the globe, those in health care, frontline workers, breadwinners, factory workers, and more are required to wear their face masks for long hours every day. This extensive time under a mask has resulted in fewer breaks for nutrition and hydration. Many of these essential workers cannot eat or drink regularly without exposing themselves to high threat environments. This issue has been felt globally as the world has been asked to "mask up" regardless of how long one must be in danger of exposure. We aim to help mitigate this issue with our patented Drinking Port. Installing a Drinking Port into a face mask will allow the user to insert a straw through the gasket in the port, thereby providing liquid nourishment through protein drinks, smoothies, water, and other liquids. 

Kaiser Permanente has researched the physical and mental health issues and has made recommendations to find locations away from people to hydrate during COVID-19. The benefits of hydration are numerous and forgoing a drink for fear of exposure can be reduced by adding a Drinking Port.

https://thrive.kaiserpermanente.org/thrive-together/live-well/10-warning-signs-dehydration-watch-out

Please view the video on our website 

Drinking Ports were developed for use in a variety of face masks. We use the revolutionary technology of recycled polypropylene plastic for injection molding. Our polypropylene plastic lidded top and bottom has a center-fitting silicone gasket with a cross-cut for easy insertion of a variety of straws. Our devices can be snapped into place or heat-sealed into most face masks whether the mask is commercially or hand-made by cutting a 25mm hole via our sticker pattern or metal hole cutter. The bottom piece is placed between the face mask in the 25mm hole where a molded gasket sits in its groove allowing for the top lidded portion to be snapped into place, securing the Drinking Port to the mask. With the Drinking Port installed, the user may drink liquids for hydration or sustenance by inserting a straw into the lidded port, thus allowing the user to hydrate and keep their mask in place, preventing exposure to potential airborne contaminants. 

This past year has proven challenging for the health care industry due to long hours without proper breaks for hydration and self-care. Paired with dwindling supplies of PPE (Personnel Protective Equipment), healthcare workers have been exposed to the hazards of dealing with a global pandemic underprepared. The need for proper PPE became apparent when the public began to sew face masks for hospitals, families, and strangers globally. The lack of preparedness filtered down the pipeline from the hospitals to the homeless as many were in desperate need of face mask protection to stave off a highly contagious virus. Our Drinking Port may reduce exposure to health hazards lurking in proximity, with the lidded top keeping any environmental hazards from contaminating the silicone gasket. Hospital patients can also benefit from our device which can help to protect them from contagious airborne contaminants.

We realize that our product will be utilized by people from all walks of life and socioeconomic levels. Making our product affordable, sustainable, and accessible is critical to its success. The way we designed our snapping system of the Drinking Port allows you to remove and sanitize the port to use over and over again, making our product eco-friendly and sustainable. The wholesale price is low making it an affordable solution for people in countries around the world. Nonetheless, we would like to see a product match for those most in need in the United States and beyond with a one-for-one donation policy where for each Drinking Port purchased, one would be donated to assist someone in need.

Drinking Ports help those in communities across the globe and those most vulnerable to disease outbreaks, pollution, and climate change affordably and sustainably. Our easy-to-use ports can help reduce exposure to disease and environmental contaminants by allowing the user to hydrate and nutritionally sustain themselves via our Drinking Port while wearing a face mask thus minimizing the risk of contamination. There wasn't a country fully prepared for the shortage of PPE last year. The affordability of our Drinking Ports means that mass production can increase our ability to stockpile the product ahead of time.

Although we have been working on this project since the beginning of the pandemic, Drinking Ports are still in the prototype phase as we are awaiting the arrival of the finished product after a short testing phase. Our team has made adjustments to the lid design after the initial testing and now awaits production. Once we have our products in hand, we will advance to the next phase and will be sending samples to our target audience. Our team is looking forward to having physical samples of our Drinking Ports to show our prospective customers as it is much easier for them to visualize and utilize this new technology firsthand. 

https://www.drinkingports.com/

Our Drinking Port is a new invention and just received its utility patent this May. Since the start of the pandemic, masks have been the first line of protection against disease spread and to protect the public from respiratory-related contaminants. This has made mask-wearing a worldwide trend, which has consequently made additional health issues from lack of food and hydration. Our snap-in Drinking Ports attach to most masks or we could make a heat-melted one for disposable masks, to allow direct protected access to the users, allowing for hydration and sustenance at any time. Most people hoped to gain access to a drink by lifting their masks or cutting a simple hole that allows for potential disease or contaminants direct access to the user. Daily requirements of fluids are 3.7 liters (15.5 cups) for men and 2.7 liters (11.5) for women. Studies say men should be drinking approximately 1 cup per hour while awake or more if they are sweating, but fears of catching airborne pathogens often overwhelm a person and they will avoid sustenance at physical cost without realizing the damages they are creating. Our Drinking Ports could possibly help prevent the spread of diseases and allow for proper sustenance by giving the user an alternative option to lifting their mask or forgoing sustenance altogether leading to detrimental impacts physically and mentally. 

We hope to grow as our target group needs our products. Hopefully, many countries will be stockpiling for future outbreaks instead of fighting this current pandemic. We plan on adding additional products at this point to sustain our business, that being said the uncertainty of the future is why we need to make everyone aware that preparations are needed, so no one is caught off guard again. Our company has future plans on implementing an advertising campaign outlining reasons to plan ahead, prevent disease and climate issues.

Tracy Hosac       President/Inventor 

Stephen Hosac       Vice President/3D Cad

Tiffany Hosac Huber    Editor/Graphic Design 

Trisha Smith        Video/Content Creator 

Andrew Hosac      Video/Support 

The Hosac’s are a family of creative artists, construction, technologically savvy, hands-on, and business owners willing to learn new abilities for any challenge they face in life. This is the second patent Tracy Hosac (the inventor) has applied for, she received the Drinking Port patent by winning a spot in the US PATENT COVID FAST TRACK  PILOT PROGRAM. The team has experience owning and operating their own businesses. When taking on a project like this we have used our life experiences along with becoming more proficient in skills from 3D printing to 3D Cad design and learning about injection molding. There always is something new with each venture, but what is important is how willing your team is able to face the obstacles without giving up. This past year wearing a face mask has been instrumental in keeping our family and friends safe and we are dedicated to its implementation. We have done extensive research into the problems involved in wearing masks, long hours, hydration issues, and the detrimental effects on frontline workers and the community. Interviews with doctors and nurses have given us insight into the problems and the fears of catching diseases along with the problems of dehydration.

The network this challenge has to offer is impressive and is known worldwide. To participate and work as a winner would be a dream for our team. There is a difficulty for small enterprises with new inventions. Our goals of selling to government and hospital institutions can be challenging with all the technical requirements they might have. Government contracts in themselves can be complicated and require a degree of experience, which we are looking for guidance. Our project wants to help society professionals that work in these institutions. The mentoring program can offer us real insight and lead us to the appropriate contacts. 

With any new business, marketing is key. If we are fortunate to develop a relationship with one of challenges mentors that has experience with government and hospital acquisitions, it would be beneficial to our goals. With the restocking of product supplies, future preventative supplies need re-evaluating for diseases, climate change, and the many unknown scenarios that may come into play. We would like help in providing our Drinking Ports to various businesses. Social networking is a valuable tool, email list, contacts, and knowing the best implementation can make a small business grow. We know these are the areas we need help and are open to ideas for our business to prosper.

We are relying on your expertise in this area to guide us for the appropriate help and solutions. Our experience is limited on whom would be appropriate and what organization would like to be instrumental in our future. We are looking forward to meeting with your recommendations.

We as a nation can sit by and watch our fellow citizens fall from this pandemic or we can take action. I was hospitalized in March 2020, I noticed face masks were the best protection against a deadly virus. I asked nurses on staff how they were able to get drinks? They all said similar stories of fear, taking masks off in an isolated area or abstaining until the end of their shifts. Driven by fear from the unknown virus our health care workers were going long hours without sustenance. This leads me to invent the Drinking Port. My invention is a cost-effective solution for every walk of life regardless of income. If I won this prize I would like to gift it back to the community that inspired me. I would like to sustain my business and prosper, at the same time if your fortunate to win a prize like the Robert Wood Foundation, I then would like to take responsibility and give back to the community that risks their lives daily. This is an opportunity to help nurses, frontline workers, and persons in need, by offering affordable products to keep them stay safe. Nonetheless, we would like to see a product match for those most in need in the United States and beyond, with a one-for-one donation policy, where for each Drinking Port purchased one would be donated to assist another in need. We also need to promote our business, buy products and send samples to prospective customers.

With only 12.8% of US Patent holders being women, I am fortunate to be among them. I won a coveted spot for the Covid-19 Prioritized Examination US Patent Pilot Program and received a patent for my Sustenance Access Port. My other invention is still patent pending. We learned new technologies when many businesses were shut down from COVID-19 to succeed, we had to learn 3D CAD to model my idea. We also wanted to learn as much as we could about the industry we were entering. My team also studied injection molding and 3D printing. These techniques will hopefully keep us on the cutting edge and help me with other patent ideas. We did everything we could ourselves and did not hire outsiders for help which was a massive saving. Our team is not afraid to learn nor are we afraid to ask for help when we need it. We were able to create our product with limited resources, materials along with valuing all the resources we had. We will judiciously use monies for simple advertising, production run, and samples to send to prospective clientele. With government and hospitals re-stocking and preparing for future outbreaks, we hope to show that Drinking Ports can be an integral part of their future stockpiles. We would like to product match for those in need in the United States and beyond with a one-for-one donation policy were for each Drinking Port purchased.

In the ever-evolving world of diseases, every Industrialized Nation needs to be prepared. This last year has proven face mask has been our first line of protection against the ever-evolving COVID-19 virus. Our valuable health care system lacked the necessary stockpile of face masks. Then our precious health care industry was re-using old dirty masks just to get by leaving our citizens without protection. The entire health of the world was at risk daily. Long hours of wearing face masks without hydration became a real problem all around the world as everyone feared taking sustenance would invite a deadly disease then illness or death would soon become their fate. The only way for hydration was to lift your face mask. I became aware of this problem while ill in the hospital and asked nurses about their drinking situations and the fears they had. This leads me to come up with a solution, the Sustenance Access Port for face masks. I applied for the coveted US Patent Covid-19 Prioritized Examination Pilot Program and won a spot, then I was awarded a patent in May 2021. My Drinking Port can alleviate the fear of drinking whilst wearing a face mask since we have a reusable model that’s eco-friendly with a protective lid, inner gasket with a crosscut that a straw goes through a bottom that snaps onto most face masks. Our ports may also be hot melted into a disposable (surgical) type mask. Our cost-effective designs are ready to go into production. Low-income nations can easily afford to have their population use the snap-in model as they could install it into a washable face mask they might already own. This is a reusable product and is simple to install with a 25mm hole cut into a mask, Drinking Ports can be washed in place thousands of times. 

Our re-useable drinking port prototypes are complete. We had our molds made and in the first trial, we found we add a tab on the lid which will allow better opening. We are hoping to gain Government and Hospital contracts, as they are re-stocking and preparing for future outbreak scenarios. We hope to present a hot molded disposable product for a face mask and develop this as another skew in the future. I initially set out to help others stay safe during this pandemic. Nonetheless, we would like to see a product match for those most in need in the United States and beyond with a one-for-one donation policy where for each Drinking Port purchased, one would be donated to assist those in need. We are hopeful our by sharing our story will inspire others to go after their dreams and not let them just sit stagnant in their heads.