In nearly three decades as a registered nurse, Timothy Aurelio has never witnessed devastation on the scale that the Covid-19 pandemic has wrought.
The first wave, about one year ago now, saw hospitals fill with patients in acute respiratory distress, including at hospitals within the CharterCARE Health Partners system where Aurelio works. Aurelio and his colleagues were focusing on symptom management one moment, then intubating the same patient the next, he recalled to Rhode Island Inno.
Making matters worse, a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), including the N95 masks that can filter out SARS-CoV-2 particles, forced mask reuse: CharterCARE provided each nurse with one N95 mask each week, issued in a brown paper bag.
In order to work properly, N95 masks must fit tight to the face, and the inside of the mask must not come in contact with the particles the mask is designed to keep out. So the paper-bag storage method, Aurelio noticed very quickly, was not just subpar — it was dangerous.
"This security guard had his N95 in a brown paper bag, and it was completely crushed. His metal nosebridge was completely flat," Aurelio said. "That was when things first clicked for me. Then, I started looking around and saw people had the masks hanging from their desks, from hooks next to the printer. Anything from the air is dropping down into their mask."
Last summer, Aurelio began work on a storage device specific to N95 masks that would preserve the integrity of the mask so it could be worn longer.
With the help of a veritable brain trust of advisers — Hope Hopkins of MassChallenge Rhode Island, Annette Tonti of RIHub and Michael Katz of the University of Rhode Island, among others — Aurelio is now beginning to commercialize the device via his new startup, which is aptly named "N95 Mask Preserver."
The device itself is a medical-grade plastic case that opens on a hinge like an old-school lunchbox. It also includes a quarter-inch hole so emergency personnel can clip it onto their clothes or backpacks, so they don't lose valuable time running back to their desks when called to a Covid-19 patient's room, for example.
The devices are currently being manufactured at a facility in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and are available in quantities ranging from one, for $15, to 100, for $1,000. Aurelio said CharterCARE has committed to buying preservers for its hospitals to kick things off.
For Aurelio, the preserver is a concrete way to help his fellow emergency nurses, along with other emergency personnel like EMS and firefighters, who have given unquantifiable time and energy to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. He personally expects that he and his colleagues will have another year or two before the immediate threat of Covid-19 recedes and they're able to relax.
"Hopefully, this will be part of the solution — my way of trying to provide something to protect us better," Aurelio said. "Even one person is too many to get sick because of malfunctioned PPE."
