With all classes being temporarily held remotely, North Shore Community College’s state-of-the-art health care equipment was dormant and unutilized. Thus when Winchester Hospital reached out in mid-March to see if NSCC could lend its mechanical ventilators, the answer was a resounding yes.
The current COVID-19 pandemic can lead to profound respiratory failure and mechanical ventilators are in short supply. Mechanical ventilators are sophisticated machines which are used to support the vital function of breathing for a patient when they cannot do it effectively for themselves. While Winchester Hospital was in line to receive a few from outside suppliers, they were eventually told they would not be receiving any.
“Winchester Hospital is a strong supporter of the Respiratory Care Program at NSCC, said Jane Schweizer, MSEd, RRT, Program Director of NSCC’s Respiratory Care Program. “Not only are the managers of the Respiratory Care Department alumni of our program, but the entire Respiratory Care Department provides exceptional clinical experiences to both our first- and second-year students.
“The Winchester Hospital Respiratory Care Department employs many of our graduates, 5 from the Class of 2019 alone. We are extremely fortunate to have such a supportive relationship with this facility, so we were happy to comply with their request,” Schweizer noted.
On Monday, March 30 NSCC loaned Winchester Hospital 3 state- of -the- art, industry- standard, mechanical ventilators along with a non-invasive ventilator (BiPAP machine). These ventilators were inspected by the hospital’s biomed department and now they are set up and ready to go in the event the hospital needs them.
NSCC has also donated surplus PPE supplies to other area health care providers.