Thirty-five years ago, in a cabin in the woods… sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale, but it was literally where the WAFFLE story began

Thirty-five years ago, in a cabin in the woods… sounds like the beginning of a fairy tale, but it was literally where the WAFFLE story began. As a prominent Otolaryngologist (fancy-speak for head and neck surgeon), James Spahn, MD, FACS, had an idea that would change the trajectory of his career and positively affect the lives of many patients and caregivers.

With head and neck surgery, the key to a smooth recovery is proper head elevation, post-surgery. But, at the time, the industry hadn’t come through with the ideal product. So as the old adage states, if you want something done right, you do it yourself, and that’s exactly what he did. The original product – The Position Perfect — was air inflatable with multiple chambers. The head was elevated to the optimum degree to promote healing, while strategically placed holes in the top of the product kept patients cool and comfortable. The invention worked like a charm, but something just wasn’t quite right. 

The name! Light tan in color, soft to the touch, holes through the middle about the shape of a beer can (not that we’ve tested this, of course); our premier support surface deserved a name to better fit its personality. And thus, the WAFFLE was born! Just like the comfort food, the new WAFFLE Overlay put patients at ease as they recovered from head and neck surgery.  But the benefits didn’t stop there. The new WAFFLE not only eased the mind, but the pressure too. The unique container redistributed the pressure over the bony prominences, thereby reducing pain and ultimately preventing the development of pressure injuries. 

Soon thereafter, Dr. Spahn changed his focus solely to soft tissue injury prevention. The rest, they say, is history. While EHOB has come a long way since the cabin in the woods, our roots were firmly planted in helping patients and caregivers all those years ago. Even though many things have changed since the beginning, the WAFFLE Overlay is still the natural choice when it comes to pressure injury prevention!