SONO Wipes' Story

Rewind to 2010

We’re hanging out with a group of our closest friends at my partners kids birthday party conversing about business and product ideas that WE should have created as all true “Entrepreneurs at heart” do (one of those “why didn’t I think of that” moments). He kept talking about how much hospitals were spending on damaged transducers and the frustration of the departments and the field engineers that were confronted with questions from administrators about why their equipment and transducers were getting damaged so quickly. He said “you walk into the ultrasound rooms and there would be sprays, different tubs of wipes in an array of colors like it was Christmas all year, red top, green top, purple top, grey top, mixed in there with some not so festive looking wipes, etc. This confused the heck out of everyone! Sonographers, applications reps and service engineers were confused beyond belief." This led me one simple question. Isn't there a wipe that speaks to Ultrasound and Ultrasound specifically?? Shockingly the answer was "No, there isn't!" I couldn't wait to get home from this party and start researching this as I do with every business Idea that gets presented to me. Hmm, Ultrasoundwipes.com has to be taken I thought. Well, it wasn't. So I went ahead and registered the domain name. I love great ideas and I love research! And this would fit the bill perfectly! I was not from this industry but I am a quick learner. My passion is Niche markets and the products that fit well in that space. I have 20 years of experience in the entrepreneurial world, and in that time I have seen and been through quite a bit. Maneuvering around a recession was quite the learning experience. Making sure all my Co-workers kept their jobs was a top priority for me.

After quite a bit of research regarding disinfectant wipes, what is in them, what shouldn't be in them, etc., my mind was made up so I brought my wife into my office and said, Honey, I am getting into the consumable business! Manufacturing a consumable and bringing it to market was a challenge I happily accepted. My wife was supportive as she always has been. She is my rock. I love her dearly. I always say The biggest decision in a man's life is his wife! And I definitely made the right decision. Happily married for 13 years with 2 beautiful healthy children. I am blessed for sure.

Our Goal

One of our main goals was, and still is, saving customers money. we want to help eliminate all this transducer and equipment damage!

To the Sonographer

There has to be a point where you, as a Sonographer, get frustrated looking at equipment in conditions like the one in the pictured below.

Make your voice/displeasure heard, as this is not something that can continue to go on unnoticed or shoved under the rug for a penny savings on the wrong sprays and wipes. Especially since these sprays and wipes are to blame for such costly repairs to such sensitive ultrasound equipment.

In many cases the transducers are so badly damaged that they need to be replaced. Look at the damage in the pic below (Image credit GMI) , the harsh sprays and wipes deteriorated the seal and cracked the probe to the point where every time gel is used, a little bit enters the probe. This is embarrassing and apparently goes un-noticed for quite some time. A problem like this can lead to dropout and even patient shock plus it's disgusting.

• You know what is causing these issues!
• You now know how to prevent these issues from ever happening again! 

Voice your concern and displeasure regarding equipment that is damaged. 

WHY? because you care just like we do! This is why we created SONO Wipes.

It must be a pleasant surprise to finally see Wipes that say what they do and keep your equipment free of damage.

We really do stand behind our product. This is evident with the state of the art testing equipment that we had made just for us. There was no system ( and to my knowledge still isn’t) that did what we needed it to do. 

So, we had no choice but to contact a manufacturer and have them completely custom build an interval spraying machine that was capable of performing the tests we needed. 

Years later, our testing equipment was in our facility and ready for real world testing. 

We tested and continue to test compatibility with every OEM’s equipment. From the transducers, to the trackballs, to the panels, to the keyboards, ALL OF IT! We even tested touchscreen and LCD screens! Click the image above and you can see our machine in action!

After years of testing, SONO has not seen any damage to any piece of equipment that we have tested.

• NO yellow cables
• NO cracked cables
• NO cracked lenses 
• NO sticky trackballs
• NO broken keys on the keyboards
• NO yellowing of the probes

Clinical Engineering departments have asked us countless times to present our product to them in front of their product committees and infection control departments to explain why we are NOT "just another disinfectant wipe." We present the long term benefits our product brings to the lifespan of their equipment.

As a small Company, we pride ourselves in working closely with every distribution partner and customer.

I am grateful to be part of such a great Company whose business is focused on solving an extremely lengthy problem that has gotten out of control. And for the most part shoved under the rug.

I would love to hear feedback from everyone that is using SONO on their equipment. Nothing beats real world feedback! I am all ears! :)

We are proud to state that ALL SONO products are Made in the USA! Down to the cardboard boxes!

SONO Gives back to Charity

Please help us spread the word, we are giving back EVERY month!

We are donating $250 to the charity of the winners’ choice. 

Our goal is to grow this donation amount from the current $250 per month to $2500 per month! We can't do it without you! With the help of everyone in the Medical industry, we ask you all to help us reach that goal! There is no purchase necessary of course. This is a drawing EVERY month and 100% for Charity.

The simple form can be found on our website under the #SONOcares tab or click the banner right above this and it should send you to that page. 

We thank you and your Charity will thank you!

I personally would like to thank all of my contacts here on LinkedIn for their ongoing support, emails and DM's. And thank you to all the Sonographers and all of our customers using SONO Wipes and helping us make a difference!

Chris Froian
VP | Co-Founder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfroian/
Advanced Ultrasound Solutions, Inc.
The Makers of  S O N O
The Sonographers Choice