Post #3 - Venting About Ventilators



I was up half the night, thinking about ventilators, of which I know nothing. It was my idea that instead of finding more ventilators, manufacturers come in and add a second hose. Run two of them off one machine. They did use "Y" tubing in Las Vegas after the mass shooting when there was an immediate shortage:

Why not try the same thing now? I asked a friend who is a surgeon. He said it has been tried but there are concerns about infection spreading.

Ok, back to square one.

There's this. The first modern ventilators were produced in the 1950s. They were primative machines but they worked. If manufacturers can't make the modern complex ventilators fast enough, what about the old machines, which can be assembled quickly from basic electronic parts. They look like the radios kids used to assemble overnight from boxes and Quaker Oatmeal cans.

You could even make one at home as this Web site shows. The point is, at some point we have to understand unless distancing stops this in its tracks, there won't be enough ventilators around. They can't get the parts fast enough. Maybe a simpler alternative that really could be produced in weeks would be at least a temporary solution for saving even a few lives.

Of course that we even have to consider these solutions is nothing short of a national disgrace, and we know whose fault that is.

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