Cade Cashen and Jim Perkins of the GTRI/SEAL talks to podcast host Scott McAtee about a practical Low Resource Ventilator they developed in 2020 using common parts found in any hardware or auto parts store.

Talking Points

• Cade Cashen’s wife, a nurse, was concerned about the initial availability of ventilators and their high cost during the early stages of this pandemic and challenged Cade to see if there was a less expensive alternative.
• Cade and Jim successfully submitted a GTRI IRAD to investigate a solution. After exhausting those funds, GT funded an additional $25,000 to continue the work.
• Collaborating with a respiratory therapist to understand the function of a ventilator, they found all of the materials need to build a working model were available at hardware and auto part stores.
• They eventually built two versions of the ventilator whose final cost were approximately $350, compared to $50,000 for a commercial ventilator.
• Anyone can see the ventilator by coordinating with Cade Cashen. A video of the functioning ventilator can be seen on the GTRI YouTube channel.

Links

• COTS Part Ventilator