Bridge ventilator prototype design being refined locally
A Maui-made emergency bridge ventilator prototype is being refined, with production to ramp up soon to help those suffering from COVID-19 on Maui, the president and CEO of Maui Economic Development Board said Thursday.
Leslie Wilkins said five doctors gave a thumbs-up to the prototype made on Maui this week, which was assisted by a $100,000 grant from Maui County to MEDB on Monday. MEDB is serving as a passthrough for the funding and is not making any profit, she said.
Wilkins clarified earlier reports regarding the number of ventilators that could be produced, saying that actually about 60 emergency ventilators could be made with the initial grant.
At a county news conference Monday, officials said that 500 emergency ventilators could be made, which was incorrect. County spokesman Chris Sugidono said Friday that the 500 figure was incorrectly calculated by county officials.
Kahului-based HNu Photonics and Maui Innovation Group, based at the Maui Research & Technology Park, are producing the emergency ventilators.
The ventilators are not the machines that cost thousands of dollars, the state lieutenant governor’s office said. Rather, the locally produced emergency bridge ventilators have a simpler design with a bag pumping air instead of someone having to squeeze a bag.
The bridge ventilators can assist those who have breathing issues but may not yet require the full capacity ventilator or someone who is waiting for a ventilator.
Wilkins said the Maui doctors who looked at the prototype asked for 50 bridge ventilators, which she said could take around two weeks to make. But supplies may be a challenge to obtain, she added, as they are frequently sold out online.
The larger HNu Photonics is plugged into a medical team at the state’s Emergency Command Center, which includes a “tech hui” that is working on this project and other ideas to increase ventilator capacity, the lieutenant governor’s office said.
Lt. Gov. Josh Green said last week that Maui Memorial Medical Center only has 24 ventilators.
The bridge ventilator effort is being led by a consortium of doctors and engineers nationally, which reached out to Green, who is a medical doctor. The design was developed at the University of Texas at Austin.