by Kristen De Deyn Kirk
When Erin Wendell attended her first tradeshow as ivWatch’s chief marketing and communications officer, she was surprised.
“I noticed a sea of sameness,” she says.
The displays merely illustrated medical devices, with picture after picture of plastic components. The colors yellow and blue dominated, and the salespeople spoke more than they listened.
“I realized we had a huge opportunity to not only challenge the status quo and break through the noise,” she remembers, “but to also draw in a human connection.”
The word “provocative” came to Wendell’s mind, the same word she believes ivWatch inventor and company founder Gary Warren would use to describe her. She met Warren, a former NASA engineer, through a mutual friend when she was working at Under Armour. Most consumers equated Under Armour with male jocks. So Wendell spearheaded a marketing campaign featuring ballerina Misty Copeland to change that perception, welcoming previously overlooked athletes and those inspired by them.
A Human Connection that Matters
In 2022, with 12 years of experience supplying its medical device to hospitals, Newport News-headquartered ivWatch was positioned to protect an even greater number of people thanks to Wendell’s vision. She knew she had to tell the stories of the dangers of not using ivWatch. Soon, words, pictures and videos at tradeshows and sales presentations detailed the suffering patients faced when IVs were incorrectly inserted and inadequately monitored.
“There are so many people who don’t know the damage an IV can cause,” says Melissa Williams, a Florida resident who was given an IV after spinal surgery.
In an ivWatch video about Williams’ IV-related injuries, a camera zooms in on her right hand. Two fingers are missing. Part of her upper hand, too. All were amputated after her body was infected by medicine meant only for her veins. She had experienced extravasation—IV fluid leaking from a vein into surrounding tissue.
When the IV was started, Williams felt pain. A staff member told her it was normal. It wasn’t. ivWatch could have confirmed the problem if it had been used. It would have been placed near Williams’ IV, and with its optical sensors, monitored her body to detect fluid leaking, sometimes even before a medical professional’s eye could detect it. Two visual notifications—a simple yellow check and later a red check—could have alerted a clinician to the problem.
“Think of it like a seat belt,” Wendell says. “IvWatch is a continuous, 24/7 surveillance of that IV site. It is an extra set of eyes for the nurses and a [patient’s] guardians.”
If ivWATCH had been used in Williams’ case, she could have avoided:
• The loss of two fingers
• Seven painful years
• 27 procedures
• 97 nights at a hospital
• 153 therapy days
• $457,385 in lost wages
Unfortunately, Williams’ nightmare can happen to more people than one might imagine: According to Wendell, 50% of IVs administered fail, and ivWatch is the only proven detection solution in the world.
Where ivWATCH is Helping
After 20 years of research and development, and 15 years in business, the company holds 69 patents worldwide. For the time being, they’re focusing their sales efforts in the United Kingdom, the Middle East, and the United States. The perfect customers? A children’s hospital or one specializing in geriatric patients. Both populations are less likely—or able—to mention a problem with an IV. Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk has been an ivWatch customer for more than a decade.
“We will detect leaking in as little as two drops of fluid,” Wendell says. “In some instances, a hospital policy may say, ‘check that IV every single hour.’ What’s going to happen the other 59 minutes that the nurse is not in the room?”
Wendell, who was promoted to ivWatch president in September 2025, sees a difference at tradeshows and sales presentations these days. Nurses are drawn in by the bold red and black on the ivWatch displays, and they can’t look away from the large pictures of babies’ IV injuries.
“People are coming up to us in every single tradeshow saying, ‘I need you, and I need you tomorrow,’” Wendell says. “‘I just had this happen on my watch last week.’”
Next up for ivWatch
The company’s current sensor, the only in the world, has FDA approval to detect clear fluids—those you can see through in an IV bag—that have leaked from a vein into tissue. IvWatch is also researching and developing a sensor that will detect cloudy or milky fluids known as lipid-based infusates, including propofol, a general anesthetic drug often used during surgeries.
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