South Carolina’s School of Medicine Greenville to help with COVID-19 ventilator shortage

March 26, 2020

A collaborative effort involving the University of South Carolina and Prisma Health has resulted in emergency-use authorization from the FDA for a ventilator expansion device to support multiple patients affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The effort aims to save lives at a time when the nation may face a critical shortage of ventilators in the near future. A team from the UofSC College of Engineering and Computing used 3D printers for rapid prototyping and production of the devices.

“Immediately, we realized we had an opportunity to impact patient outcomes all over the country – and potentially beyond the U.S.,” says Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, chief academic officer for Prisma Health in the Upstate market and dean of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Greenville.