Much has evolved since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, but I am sure the events of spring 2020 are still fresh in all our minds. Reports in early 2020 shared that the SARS-CoV-2 virus had migrated from Wuhan, China, and shortages of critical care resources in Italy and Spain were costing lives. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic began its spread in the United States and took its first lives here, President Trump revealed that the U.S. might be short more than 130,000 ventilators in preparation for the COVID-19 pandemic. After reading a New York Times article on March 18, 2020, “There are Not Enough Ventilators to Cope with the Coronavirus,” I, along with many of my anesthesiology colleagues, wondered if our MacGyver instincts that we use to fix broken OR equipment might be applied to the anticipated ventilator shortage.
As a board-certified anesthesiologist and the CEO and founder...
