Southtown Star:
About two years ago, David Jurus had what inventors call a flash of genius. The 73-year-old Oak Forest resident, who volunteers at a hospital, saw a patient he had befriended suffering terrible pain because of a common ailment – bedsores.
So Jurus, who does home remodeling but really considers himself an inventor, went to work in his garage. In the heat of summer, the cold of winter, he tinkered away on his project.
“Inventors take a lot of flak, a lot of abuse, and some people call us crackpots,” said the man who had previously created the Potty Caddie, a device to alleviate the odor common in household toilets. “I’m willing to put up with all that abuse if I can bring something socially redeeming, something great into the world.”
He calls his patented invention the AutoMedic Pressure Relief Bed.
“This is a common problem in every hospital in the country with orthopedic patients, and I thought if I can develop a new kind of bed that eliminates bedsores I will have made a real contribution to mankind.”
The bed he invented at first glance resembles a xylophone, with 72 sponge-foam pads that look like slats spread across it. The slats move vertically in groups of 18 each, alternating going up and down by about 2.5 inches. All of the pads, operated electronically, change position every two minutes.
“It actually feels like a gentle massage when you lie in it,” Jurus said. “I’ve slept on the bed for weeks at a time, and it’s very comfortable.”
But he hasn’t been able to get financing for an actual study of the bed in a medical setting.
“That’s what I need right now,” Jurus said. “I know this thing will work. But I need a grant, some research, to prove that my theory will work. Actually, I know it will work. I just need some financial help.”
Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives