A local doctor of Internal Medicine at the VA has partnered with a division of JMA Wireless in Liverpool to create ventilators. The intention is have a safety, if the national ventilator supplies are depleted by COVID-19. Just a few weeks ago Dr. John Callahan thought about creating a device that could mimic the functionality of pricey ventilators in conjunction with existing medical supplies that hospitals have on hand.
He reached out to JMA and they scrapped his first device idea but, came up with the Pandemic Response Emergency Ventilation knowns as the Prevail NY System.
“What they were able to create was something that utilizes ball bearings, a lot of internal sensors and it’s controlled by a computer and it can be plugged into the wall but, it uses a DC motor. So, the applicability of this is that you could run this off battery power as well.”
Callahan and JMA have submitted the prototype for an Emergency Use Authorization with the FDA. After they saw some positive results with a medical mannequin.
“We have utilized it on a mannequin we purchased. We were able to ventilate that. But that does not give you the assessments that you need. In a matter of days there is a locally accredited lab that should be releasing some information about our use of the Prevail NY (system) and how it performed.”
The doctor says the idea is specific to help with the current health pandemic only as an emergency stop measure and the devices would need specialized medical personnel manning them.
