Plymouth-Based Med Tech Company Nationally Recognized for Fight Against COVID-19

A Plymouth-based medical technology company is gaining national recognition for making a difference in the fight against COVID-19. 

Nonin Medical was named “Best in Business” in the Health Products category by Inc. Magazine. The applicant pool had around 2,700 entries. 

A key component for Nonin Medical’s achievement is due to its pulse oximetry. The company produces several kinds of pulse oximeters including tabletops and fingertips. 

Nonin Medical production facility.

The fingertip pulse oximeter attaches to a person’s finger. It reads the pulse rate and how much oxygen a person has in his or her system. Nonin Medical CEO Dave Hemink said this is important because sometimes with COVID-19 a patient’s oxygen saturation will be lower than 90%. 

“With COVID, we see sometimes those patients will drift lower,” said Hemink.”They’ll drift below 90 and some cases they drift way down into the 60s and 70s and as low as 50s.”

Because COVID-19 attacks the lungs, it causes lower oxygen levels. Because reading oxygen saturation is so crucial, the demand for pulse oximetry technology has skyrocketed at Nonin Medical.

Hemink said the company invented the first fingertip pulse oximeter 34 years ago. The company has created and manufactured just under a million units in Plymouth.

“An unprecedented response. We were growing exponentially during COVID and we continue to grow,” said Hemink. “We really are the leader in pulse oximetry. But to be able to engage with patients and caregivers and hep, that’s a really great honor.”

Hemink added that the battle against COVID-19 doesn’t stop here for the company. 

Plymouth