NMCP Staff Members Build A Ventilator In Wake of COVID-19

PORTSMOUTH, Va. (Apr. 24, 2020) – A team of Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s (NMCP) Anesthesiology Department staff members built a ventilator in an effort to help fight the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19, pandemic. The prototype had been tested on three specific models, including two high-fidelity lung simulators and in an animal trial using a swine model. During the command-approved animal trial, the ventilator was compared head-to-head with a conventional veterinary ventilator. It was found to provide non-inferior, if not superior, ventilation. From left: Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Christopher Rector, assigned to Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expeditionary Support Unit Two (EODESUTWO); Lt. Gregory Booth, assistant director of the Anesthesiology Residency; Lt. Cmdr. Scott Hughey, senior anesthesia resident; Cmdr. Jason Longwell, department chair of Anesthesiology; and Lt. Jacob Cole, senior anesthesia resident. (U.S. Navy photo by Seaman Imani N. Daniels/Released)