Jay Tydlaska, CRNA and Amy Sheppard, CRNA have been friends and business partners for more than a decade. They both love what they do in the field of anesthesia and have a passion for finding simple solutions to complex problems, not only with regard to processes and equipment, but interpersonal challenges as well.
Amy: "We’ve always spent a lot of time and energy trying to improve processes. Improving how we do things is sometimes more efficient on the business side, but it also helps people enjoy their work more. Unfortunately, as we’d try and share our ideas with those who could help us implement them, they often fell on deaf ears. It was really frustrating.”
Jay: "Some people are content with the status quo, no matter how flawed the system may be. We prefer to drive change. We may not always achieve everything we set out to, but now and then we discover that there is a better way to do something."
In March 2008, Jay was working at a surgery center in Dallas where he experienced his first “can't intubate, can't ventilate”.
Jay: “This was the big emergency we all hope never happens, and if it does happen, you hope you have plenty of backup. I had none. As I worked my way through the difficult airway algorithm, nothing was working. This particular facility just happened to have a video laryngoscope. At the time, I had no idea such a thing existed! I was able to get my patient intubated within a few seconds and my patient did fine. Disaster averted. After my pulse slowed down and I recovered from the scare, I couldn’t help but wonder why the video laryngoscope was my last choice instead of my first.”
Amy: "Jay actually came over to my house to tell me about his experience. He was so excited about the new device he had discovered and how it had enabled him to prevent a potentially tragic outcome. He wouldn’t stop talking about it.”
Jay and Amy decided they needed to purchase a video laryngoscope for their small anesthesia practice. That turned out to not be an easy task.
Jay: "We started to contact the different device companies and their reps, and no one would return our calls. No one wanted to take the time or effort to meet with us since they might only sell one scope. We weren’t worth their time.”
Amy: "They also wouldn’t tell us any prices. It was all a big secret until after they showed it to us. But no one wanted to show it to us! It was exhausting."
When they were able to talk to someone about the device, their enthusiasm quickly evaporated. With a price tag in the tens of thousands of dollars, they couldn’t possibly afford the scope.
Jay was so impressed with the video laryngoscope technology, he refused to let price be a deterrent. If he could not find a company and a device that was able to meet his needs, then he would build his own.
Jay: "The decision to begin development of the CoPilot VL was an easy one. Thank goodness we didn’t know what we were getting into, or we probably never would have done it.”
Amy: "When we began developing the CoPilot VL, quality, affordability, reliability and service were critical to us. We built our company on those values.”
Jay: "In Spring 2009, we were awarded the Tech Fort Worth Impact Award in the health care category for our laryngoscope design, and for our goal to make video laryngoscopy the standard of care for all intubations. We want to improve care for the 50 million patients that are intubated every year. Winning this award gave us the validation that we needed to keep going.”
The result was the CoPilot VL: A video laryngoscope that can - and should - be used on every patient. Every time.
Today, Jay focuses on product design, development, and manufacturing as CEO, as well as sales and legal matters. He is a 2000 graduate of Texas Wesleyan University with a Masters in Nurse Anesthesia. Jay has been married to Mandy Tydlaska for 14 years and they have two daughters: Chloe (9) and Reese (7). Jay is proud that he is the biggest geek he knows. He revels in all things technology and is the "go-to-guy" when you have a tech question.
Amy, the COO, manages the daily activities of the company, including marketing, trash collection, coffee making and human resources. She has a Masters in Nurse Anesthesia from Texas Wesleyan University from 2001. Amy leaves the geek stuff to Jay and her husband, Steve, who works in IT. She stays busy wrangling her two children, Nash (5) and Harper (2), practicing anesthesia and starting medical device companies.
