The novel coronavirus pandemic has sparked concerns about the adequate supply of ventilators, personal protection equipment and other necessary items.
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Now, members of Bendigo's education, business, manufacturing and local government sectors are joining forces to work on ways they can help meet that need.
La Trobe University, the Bendigo Manufacturing Group, Bendigo Tech School and the City of Greater Bendigo are looking at how the city's technological and manufacturing capabilities can be harnessed to make such equipment as ventilators, PPE, oximeters and infrared temperature monitors.
La Trobe's Professor of Practice (Engineering), Chris Stoltz, said the group was looking at different options when it came to ventilators.
These included licensing a design and manufacturing ventilators in Bendigo; talking with existing ventilator manufacturers to determine if and how Bendigo businesses could help with making components; and converting CPAP machines, commonly used to manage sleep apnoea, into basic ventilators.
Professor Stoltz said the initiative was driven by concern that, with the huge demand for ventilators everywhere, a place like Bendigo could get overlooked.
"The number of ventilators required in a place like Bendigo could be in the hundreds," Professor Stoltz said.
Bendigo Tech School director Graeme Wiggins explained that 3D printers were being used to develop prototypes of PPE items, such as face shields.
Mr Wiggins said medical practitioners would be asked to provide feedback on the designs, before they were handed over to manufacturers for production.
He said an open-source ventilator design that aimed to simplify existing models was also in the works.
While ventilators were strictly regulated in Australia, Mr Wiggins said, the design would add to the body of knowledge for open-source development.
Professor Stoltz said the group was liaising with Bendigo Health to determine what was required of the ventilator machines and those who needed to use them.
A challenge, he said, was also determining how to pay for the equipment produced, but the group was looking at possible government funding avenues and the like.
Professor Stoltz said it could be weeks or months before equipment was available for use.
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