A Fargo-based medical device company has donated a ventilator to North Dakota State University’s health professions programs.
CorVent Medical CEO Richard Walsh says his company is sending a RESPOND ventilator to NDSU, which will enhance students’ educational experience.
Walsh says what sets apart the RESPOND ventilator is how simply it can be assembled and used. He says during the pandemic, many health care workers like respiratory therapists, pulmonologists and intensivists who usually ran ventilators were getting sick.
“So we really needed a ventilator that could be operated by a layperson; that could be maybe a primary care doctor that’s in the hospital helping out, or an orthopedic surgeon, or a nurse – nurses typically don’t run ventilators, but they have some rudimentary training with ventilators. But it’s really the respiratory therapists and pulmonologists who use the ventilators. So we designed this vent to be very simple to use, and easy to understand.”
The RESPOND ventilator is FDA EUA approved. Walsh also says what further sets this ventilator apart from others is that many ventilators are manufactured overseas. The RESPOND ventilator is made right here in Fargo, and Walsh says CorVent Medical is even moving into a new facility in order to expand manufacturing capacity.