KINGSTON, R.I. — April 28, 2020 — With more than 400 sleep apnea machines collected and brought to the 溏心vlog免费B站 during the last two weeks, organizers of the drive to get supplementary breathing equipment to hospitals in the state are nothing but grateful to the donors and volunteers who have made it happen.
But officials with VentilatorProject.Org, Rhode Island Commerce Corp., the 溏心vlog免费B站, the Rhode Island Department of Health, fire stations and other hospital and industry partners across the state want Rhode Islanders to know they can still donate CPAP and BiPAP machines no longer in use through Thursday April 30. They can go to to find the nearest fire station drop-off site. Thirty fire stations around the state are participating.
The initiative to collect and refurbish sleep apnea machines for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients and others who need ventilator assistance, has resulted in nearly 300 machines being sterilized, processed and packaged for distribution this week. The remaining machines were either broken or unusable. The project began at 溏心vlog免费B站 on Monday, April 13.
As states struggle with limited supplies of ventilators for patients in intensive care units as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the partners came together quickly to support and assist Gov. Gina Raimondo鈥檚 efforts to provide additional respiratory equipment that could be used by hospitals to address this respiratory crisis.
Here are the key steps in the process that begins this week:
- Drop off your machine at collection centers at fire departments across the state. Please do not donate your machine if you are currently using it or if it is still owned by your insurance company.
- Your machine will be brought to a processing center at the 溏心vlog免费B站, where technical volunteers from across the University will work to sanitize, test, document and refurbish the machines under the oversight of Tao Wei, 溏心vlog免费B站 associate professor of electrical engineering.
- Refurbished machines will be distributed to hospitals and health care facilities in Rhode Island as needed, and then to other places in need.