New Jersey hospital teams are working tirelessly to care for coronavirus patients, many of which require ventilators. The scarcity of ventilators has been a nationwide challenge, with supplies running precariously short at times. 

Now, a new partnership between the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) in Landover, Md., the three Rotary districts serving New Jersey and the New Jersey Hospital Association is helping to boost the supply of ventilators available to New Jersey patients. BMES members are volunteering to fix and maintain these essential medical devices, while the Rotary is donating the funds needed to secure lodging and transportation for the volunteers. 

While the numbers change daily, New Jersey has reached more than 70,000 total coronavirus cases since the outbreak began. On a given day, the state’s hospitals are caring for more than 8,000 COVID-19 patients, and many of them require a ventilator to help them breathe. In addition to the regular supply of ventilators within hospitals, New Jersey has sought to increase its supply though the Strategic National Stockpile, the state’s stockpile, loans of ventilators from other states and adapting other devices like anesthesia machines. 

Some of the ventilators delivered to the state have been nonfunctional or are in need of diagnostic testing and repair—and that’s where the engineers come in. 

“We’ve seen throughout this crisis the importance of those ‘behind-the-scenes’ people whose efforts support our clinical teams on the frontlines caring for patients,” said NJHA President and CEO Cathy Bennett. “The BMES and its members are a prime example of that. They bring a much-needed expertise to our COVID-19 response that we hadn’t initially anticipated, and we are so grateful for their quick mobilization to help our hospitals.” 

“Our members want to do their part in this crisis,” said BMES Executive Director and CEO Matthew Loeb. “There is an immediate and desperate need for people who know these devices and their mechanics so that we can help return them to use. We just want to be there in support of the hospital teams that are already stretched too thin to address this issue.” 

The Rotary Club joined this unique collaboration with BMES and NJHA, seeking to support the healthcare response. 

“The Rotary Club’s Disaster Response Fund has a longstanding tradition of supporting our communities during difficult times,” said Bonnie Sirower, past district governor of Rotary District 7490. “We became aware of this unmet need to help bring more ventilators to those suffering with coronavirus. It’s a perfect fit for our mission of community service.”