SVA is leding a collaborative effort to create a breathing assistance device to help patients suffering from moderate cases of COVID-19.

As the world learns more about COVID-19, the response for how to provide care is
evolving. There are three types of COVID-19 positive patients arriving at hospitals. On
one extreme are patients who are marginally ill and only need oxygen. On the other
extreme, there are those patients who are collapsing in respiratory distress. These
patients require ventilators that pump air for the patient. In between these extremes is
the group of patients who are not stable enough for wall oxygen, but do not need full
ventilators.

Reguvent helps this middle group of patients who need breathing assistance but
do not need air to be physically pumped for them. Reguvent’s breathing assistance
device enables the patient to take a full breath with minimal effort and it is available
nationwide in large volumes now.
The research shows that COVID-19 patients experience conditions similar to
high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). This means that using high pressure ventilation
injures critical patients. Reguvent is designed to avoid the injury that ventilators have
been inflicting.

Reguvent’s patent pending solution is immediately scalable and compatible with
universal hospital designs. In essence, Reguvent’s breathing assistance device is an
adapted scuba diving regulator. It connects the oxygen supply in each hospital room to
standard hospital masks.
This is how it works. First, the regulator pressure is reduced to match the level of
hospital oxygen. Next, the trigger on the valve is set to a low setting. Then the hose is
reconfigured to match the hospital specification. Finally, a 3D printed adapter is
connected to a hospital mask. Once that is complete, the breathing assistance device is
ready for use.

Scuba gear is in abundant supply across the country and adapters can be easily
3D printed. By integrating with hospital oxygen and masks, manufacturing time is
reduced, cost is reduced, and storage is minimal. This solution is only a matter of
putting the pieces together that are in place. It is an immediate solution for an
immediate problem.

Reguvent’s solution is ideal for civil emergency planning. Scuba diving
equipment can be donated from divers across the country in times of emergency and
then returned or replaced when a pandemic has been resolved. In doing so,
governments can increase response time in times of emergency.