On To The Next Phase

by Katie Forster | Aug 7, 2020 | Newsletter | 0 comments

According to a Reuters tally, more than 160,000 Americans have died from COVID-19. There have been 4.91 million cases in total, the highest of any country. Cases are on the rise in 20 US states, and deaths on the rise in 23 states. The US ranks 10th highest in the world for cases and deaths per capita (Reuters Health News).

Boston is among those cities seeing a concerning increase in the number of positive tests. Stay safe out there—keep physical distance, and please, wear a mask. Research shows that 33,000 deaths could be avoided by October 1st if 95 percent of people wore masks in public! (UC San Francisco)

PRODUCT UPDATES

Our EUA submission is in, which signifies a big shift in the day-to-day work for our device!

Our manufacturing team is onboarding more volunteers in preparation for the emergency use authorization, and our user experience team is making design updates to the interactive control screen in collaboration with engineering.

Two additional researchers are being onboarded to the user experience team as we enter into the next phase of product development! While our first few rounds of user research sessions focused on developing a product to meet the standards of the EUA, our next sessions will be directed towards upgrading our ventilator into an even more market-ready product.

Know anyone who uses ventilators, especially to treat COVID-19 patients? We’re looking for respiratory therapists, nurses, and pulmonologists to participate in user research! It only takes an hour via video conference, and it makes a big difference. Please reach out to Hilary Coolidge at hilary.c@theventilatorproject.org if interested.

Company Updates!

This week, we’ve been refining our sales brochure, fixing up verbiage, and making it more aesthetically pleasing. We’re also looking at the data on international demand for ventilators as time goes on and COVID-19 spreads. The situation is constantly changing, both at home and abroad, and we need to stay on top of things and up to date with the current trends.

HR is also very happy to announce a partnership with Zenefits!

Zenefits is a cloud-based all-in-one platform that streamlines hiring, onboarding, and employee management. By providing their platform for free, Zenefits is a huge help for us in terms of maintaining efficiency as our fall volunteers join the team

A Huge Thank You To Everyone.

This week, TVP talked to a doctor from UC who has extensive experience working on ventilators. Initially, he voiced concern about the number of new startups entering the ventilator space. But he changed his tune about fifteen minutes into the call, recognizing that AIRA fully meets and even exceeds the standards for an ICU ventilator, especially in the international arena. We’re also far ahead of most in terms of getting through the FDA authorization process with our supply chain already in place.

For someone with such a high level of experience – who was doubtful about these types of projects to begin with – to come away with a completely different tone is very encouraging. It’s not just the engineering team, but everyone involved in the call who made this possible. Thank you to every team member who put in the effort we needed to get here, and thank you to our donors for making that effort possible as well. Because of you, we’re beyond the status quo of this crowded ventilator start-up market.

We’ve been focused on achieving EUA from the beginning. Early on, the Engineering was pulling all-nighter after all-nighter, a pattern that was then taken on by the Quality and Regulatory Affairs team as we prepared for our FDA submission. Soon, it will be Manufacturing and Sales – we are sure the previous teams are happy to pass on the all-nighter torch.

So, here’s to the promise of more exciting progress ahead. Thank you for your continued support, and enjoy the weekend! We’ll be back soon with more updates.

Best wishes,

The Ventilator Project

Visit Our Blog

Make a Donation

Click Here to Join the Team!