The first week

The first week went by in no time. It has been amazing to receive so many positive reactions. On top of that, there have been experts who have helped us tremendously via email, phone or even in person in Delft. Special thanks to the intensivists Bram Schoe and Sesmu Arbous, DEMCON, Willem Mees van der Bijl from IDE Group and all other experts who have helped us this week. With their help we have been able to get more insight into the course of disease of the coronavirus, the production of a breathing machine and the realisation of a new product. In addition, we have been in close contact with various organisations about legal steps that have to be taken for implementation.

OperationAIR already gets a lot of media attention (see the “Nieuwsuur” article on the homepage). With this attention we have been offered a lot of expertise, materials and production opportunities. Hopefully, this will speed up our process.

Scenario has modelled the amount of ICU admissions caused by the coronavirus for the upcoming time in the Netherlands. As the RIVM has stated before, the need for extra respiratory equipment is huge; another reason for us to keep on working hard. Research into the minimal needs for a breathing machine for corona patients has led to a clear Program of Requirements (or Programma van Eisen (PvE). The first parts of the prototype already got ordered last week. The goal is to have finished a prototype by the end of this week. At the same time, we will also be looking at opportunities for production, scaling and implementation for a working design.