Some Hospitals Have Run Out of Respirators in ICU So They Used Snorkelling Masks from Sports Stores

You know that the coronavirus situation is bad when the world runs out of essential medical supplies like respirators and even surgical masks. And by the way, that’s exactly that the authorities are avoiding when they try to flatten the curve:

But quick-thinking medical staff have decided to use something that you might’ve never thought of otherwise:

Some Hospitals Have Run Out of Respirators in ICU So They Bought Snorkelling Masks from Sports Stores

Medical staff have resorted to buying snorkelling masks from sports stores in order to prevent their lungs from collapsing.

Yes you read that right: snorkelling masks.

The idea began in Italy, which is the country that has been the worst hit in Europe by the highly contagious coronavirus.

Other hospitals all over the world have since taken interest in the method and have even added in their own medical parts in order to make it even more effective.

The snorkelling masks have helped to stop patients’ lungs from collapsing.

One of the hospitals that have made use of the method is none other than Erasme Hospital located on the outskirts of Belgium’s capital Brussels. It’s attached to the city’s ULB university.

“They are to be used for patients with severe respiratory problems. The aim is to avoid having to intubate the trachea of the patient and put them on a respirator,” said Frederic Bonnier, a respiratory physiotherapist at the hospital. At the same time, he also teaches at the university.

He was the brain behind the design of a custom-made valve that fits to the top of full-face masks where the snorkel is meant to go.

This allows them to connect the standard BiPAP machines that feed pressurised air into masks.

In turn, this helps prevent the collapse of alveoli, lung air sacs needed for the intake of oxygen into our bodies and the exhalation of carbon dioxide.

I know this sounds chin, so you just need to know this: they modify it lah.

Pneumonia as a result of the COVID-19 inflames the lung membrane and fills those sacs with liquid.

Not Enough Respirators

When infections from the virus take a turn for the worst, patients have to be hooked up to respirators in intensive-care units.

Unfortunately, there is a shortage of respirators all of the world because there are just too many patients who are ill with the coronavirus.

Over in the US, President Trump is now on a “war” with General Motors (yes, the car company) that promises to make ventilators but couldn’t work out a deal. In his daily briefing, he has openly criticized the company.

The good news is that the snorkelling mask solution could be a stop-gap measure for patients who are in need of intensive-care treatment, especially when there’s a shortage of hospital beds and respirators.

Bonnier revealed that from Monday, he will be testing 50 of the masks on patients.

They are the same brand as those used by Italian doctors, donated by the French sportswear retailer Decathlon which also has stores in Singapore. The masks themselves are made in Italy.

Who’d have thought that Decathlon could save lives, eh?

The Snorkelling Masks’ Design

He also said that they are much more comfortable to wear compared to the hospital ones that fit over the nose and mouth and bites into the skin.

That said, they haven’t been tested to medical standards, meaning that they are one-use only and cannot be sterilised for use between patients

The design for the 3D-printed valve also needs to be reworked as it’s not the most comfortable.

“It seemed fairly complicated to make, pretty heavy, not very comfortable. So we had the idea to go a little further by thinking on it and developing our own connection part,” he said.

But it’s not only the patients who will be able to wear the mask.

Even health workers in the COVID-19 wards can use it for protection from the contagious coronavirus.

It’s certainly an innovative idea and could help ease the shortage of respirators in hospitals.

This truly brings out the term “necessity is the mother of invention”.