CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia National Guard and other state organizations are getting innovative when at the forefront of the COVID-19 response efforts.
Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, Adjutant General of the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) helped introduce additional Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) being made in West Virginia at a recent press briefing to assist first responders and medical professionals, and to assist with increased testing capabilities.
Hoyer said the PPE that the WVNG and state organizations have worked on include innovative ventilator systems, 3D-printed testing swabs, reusable medical gowns, protective masks, and Hydrogen Peroxide disinfecting systems.
“The governor has tasked us to build up a six-month reserve of PPE so we as a state if we experience a further wave of this going forward later in the winter or early spring, we will have the appropriate six months supply of PPE,” Hoyer said at a recent briefing.
Azimuth, Inc. of Morgantown teamed with West Virginia University (WVU) Medical Center and the WVNG to create new styles of ventilators to aid in patient respiration. According to Justice’s office, the system design and fabrication were accomplished using Azimuth’s in-house engineering capabilities while only sourcing a few custom components from vendors.
“This particular device is now being looked at by the military and particularly special operations and emergency response community in the military to be used as field-expedient ventilators going forward,” Hoyer said of the ventilators.
The 3D printing of swabs for testing kits and additional PPE was led by the Innovation Hub, housed in the WVU Benjamin M. Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources and Formlabs, a 3D-printing technology developer and manufacturer based in Somerville, Massachusetts.
WVU and WVU Hospitals are now able to produce up to 10,000 swabs per week.
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DuPont donated material to West Virginia Correctional Industries to enlist inmate workers to take the raw material and create the reusable medical gowns in their facilities, a release said.
Hoyer was excited to roll out the “West Virginia Mask” while utilizing 3D printing. The governor’s office said the mask itself is a soft, form-fitting unit that will mold itself to a wearer’s face with the benefit of a removable filtration system.
“This will be the equivalent of an N-95 mask or higher. We will be able to make those in the state of West Virginia and control our own supply of masks,” Hoyer said.
Aerosolized Hydrogen Peroxide systems are used in hospitals and medical facilities to disinfect and sanitize metal and nonmetal medical devices such as surgery tools, a release said.