As front line health care workers see surges in demand for aid and hospital beds, the supplies they use to combat the virus and keep themselves safe have been facing shortages across the country.
And North Texas hospitals are no exception.
Two weeks ago, when James Griffin, CEO and founder of health care software startup Invene, got a call from Plano anesthesiologist Peter Baek about developing a solution to the shortage of N95 masks at his hospital, he quickly jumped into work. Now Invene is working with local partners to design and 3D print a device that can help health care workers protect themselves in the instance of a shortage of N95 masks.
“When someone reaches out to you on Sunday late at night talking to an issue like this, my immediate thought is to jump into action,” Griffin told NTX Inno. “It felt wrong not to go do it because, I mean what it’s two or three weeks of hard work, if there’s a way I can help to give back to my local community… it was something that was doable that we could execute.”
Baek, the team at Invene and other local innovators found designs by an Italian firm that was turning scuba masks into usable ventilators. After going through different options, the group eventually created a valve attachment to a snorkel mask, which can be fitted with filters already proven to stop the virus.
After making the design, they created their first prototype within a week. The next step though was bringing it to the hospitals and health care facilities that need them. They were able to get the ventilators past a fit test, a pass/fail test that determines if the device can block out an irritant, which under the current circumstances allows them to start supplying the devices. However, Griffin cautions the masks are an emergency solution and when N95 masks are available, they are the recommended protection.
“It’s like this is kind of like a last resort, this is protect our workers worst-comes-to-worse and that’s the whole goal behind it,” Griffin said. “Basically… you never want to use this, but let’s say you run out of N95s, let’s say there’s a delay in shipment, this is very important to frontline workers… that’s the most likely to need the most protection.”
With a prototype ready to go, Griffin has partnered with Emerson to expedite production and costs of 3D printing the ventilator attachments. The company is using one of its own printers to create the device. Griffin said they are able to print about one per hour for about $4. The group is also working with UT Dallas to print, bringing their capacity to about two an hour.
As a mentor at local health care-focused incubator and accelerator Health Wildcatters, Griffin said the recently created Health Hacking Crisis Network, which was launched by Health Wildcatter head Hubert Zajicek, has been helpful in providing knowledge and resources. Already having delivered nearly 100 of the devices, Griffin said they plan to distribute them for free to facilities in Collin and Dallas counties.
Griffin also said they have made its designs and licensing for the ventilation devices free for others who are looking to help in a similar way. He said the main goal was to get a device that could be manufactured and deployed rapidly to fill growing local needs. He added that they have already received more than 275 requests.
Griffin and Baek have launched a GoFundMe to support the effort. So far, they have raised $2,400 out of a $5,000 goal.
“We have the connections, resources and talent to make it happen because the coronavirus is causing a lot of problems and it kind of feels bad sometimes that you can’t really help. So this was a situation where I knew I could solve it, I knew I could solve it quickly,” Griffin said. “I was a biomedical engineer when I started out my career. So it’s kind of cool kind of leaning into that side, even though now I’m a computer scientist, it’s going back to ‘Ah, that’s awesome.’”
