Hunter engineered Powered Air Purifying Respirator being delivered to healthcare workers
Hunter is proud to announce Hunter/VHA ADAPT protective systems are now entering service. These cutting edge respirators can drastically reduce the risk for frontline healthcare workers contracting COVID-19 from their critically ill patients.
In an effort to help our frontline workers who continue to help so many throughout COVID-19, Hunter partnered with Dr. Jennifer DeLaney and Dr. David Katzman of Washington University in St. Louis, John Burroughs School and PASCO Systems to provide engineering and manufacturing resources to build Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPRs) for healthcare providers.
According to the CDC, 16 percent of healthcare workers have gotten infected with COVID-19 and thousands of healthcare workers have died. According to the federal regulators, PAPRs are 2.5 times more effective at reducing the risk of healthcare workers getting COVID-19 or other respiratory infections.
Dr. DeLaney and Dr. Katzman developed the idea to build PAPRs from recycled CPAP machine motors and worked with the computer science and engineering department at John Burroughs High School to design and build the first prototype with the assistance of St Louis City and County schools and Pasco Systems. An all-volunteer team from Hunter Engineering, including Alex Greenhill, Jeff Talbott, Doug Foht, Mike Gerdes and Nick Colarelli, worked with Drs. DeLaney and Katzman to streamline the manufacturing process and convert the steady stream of donated CPAP machines into PAPRs.
“Hunter Engineering is dedicated to make our country safer in everything that they do!” noted Dr. DeLaney.
Hunter collaborated with contract manufacturer, Zober Industries to set up an accredited manufacturing and quality system. The first PAPR were approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in November with the first units delivered this week. The Hunter/VHA ADAPT is one of only six PAPRs approved by the CDC/NIOSH to protect healthcare workers during this public health emergency.
A special thank you to Dr. DeLaney, the Hunter team, and other partners who contributed to help make this possible.
Hunter and PAPRFORCE will soon be open to accepting additional recycled CPAP machines. Please check back soon for details on where to send these units.
To learn more visit paprforce.com
