URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

You could see it in their eyes, even though the dozens of volunteers wore face coverings on the loading dock at the University of Rhode Island’s (URI) Memorial Union. They knew they were engaged in a potentially life-saving effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic. You could feel their energy and know that those were smiles behind the masks of the volunteers from URI, local businesses, the military, and other groups from around the state as they unloaded sleep apnea machines collected from 30 fire stations across Rhode Island. Their purpose was to collect and refurbish sleep apnea machines to serve as supplementary breathing equipment for hospitals treating patients affected by COVID-19, caused by the novel SARS- CoV-2 virus that as of mid-November has killed over 1,290 people in Rhode Island, at least 250,000 in the United States and infected more than 30 million people around the world. As hospitals around the country dealt with a shortage of ventilators and Rhode Island prepared for a potential spike of cases in late March, a group of innovative, driven and caring people formulated a novel solution to help fight this virus – refurbish unused home sleep apnea (CPAP and BiPAP) devices to serve as non-invasive backup breathing machines. The project materialized through the efforts of URI, the VentilatorProject.Org, the Rhode Island Commerce Corp., the Rhode Island Department of Health, fire stations, hospitals and local industry partners. Alex Hornstein, director of the VentilatorProject.org, described the effort as an endeavor that could only happen in a small,

Volunteers for the URI Ventilator Project.

connected state like Rhode Island, where talented and creative people work and live closely together. Hornstein said that 442 units were requested by doctors, while additional units were set aside for outreach to new hospitals. He added that at many field hospitals around the world, without ICU- level supplies, ventilators, and highly trained staff, intubation is simply not an option. Once the project team met the emergency needs for the State of Rhode Island, it worked with foreign governments and medical institutes, private corporations, hospital leaders, the U.S. Navy, the Rotary Club International, and the National Guard to coordinate the distribution of units to 11 countries around the world. This was a massive and complex effort, led by Hornstein and the Ventilator Project, with the URI Provost’s Office, the URI Division of Research and Economic Development, the URI Division of Student Affairs, and the shipping facility at the Graduate School of Oceanography, each playing key roles as needed. “We sent out evaluation kits to doctors around the world — packages with a CPAP, air tubing and connectors, oxygen treatment hoods and viral filters,” Hornstein said. “The goal is to work with doctors to confirm that they can use these to treat patients while They knew they were engaged in a potentially life-saving effort to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Volunteers for the URI Ventilator Project.

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