Professor Otte asked us to make a proposal of an engineering innovation that would benefit NYC. After some thinking, the events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic came in mind. It completely exposed the faults of our healthcare system’s preparation in times of crisis. One of the main issues was the ventilator shortage. It was so bad that manufacturer’s could not keep up with the demand. Alongside that, ventilators are extremely costly.  NYU Langone Health advised emergency room physicians to “think more critically” about which patients get ventilators, though New York state guidelines advise against physicians making such life-or-death decisions for their own patients.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told that as of April 5, the city had about 4,000 patients on ventilators and expected another 1,000 in the following days. The city needed 1,000 to 1,500 more ventilators to avoid running out by April 8. This is such a big number to meet in such few dyays. Although the crisis has calmed down as of today, a second wave seems apparent.

So, to face it, I propose making ventilators with cheaper materials and simple functions, just enough to serve its purpose. Manufacturing a ventilator is difficult, especially during a pandemic, when supply lines are unreliable. Different designs negotiate different bargains between cost and functionality. Also, it is very invasive when used used on a patient. What I have found is that we need to keep the device as minimalistic as possible. We must start using cheaper material and make fewer parts.  The idea is that a constant flow of oxygen is fed into a Y tube in a way that causes the Coanda Effect to make it stick to one wall and come out the opposite leg of the Y that has a mask (or airway) attached.  As the lungs expand, they develop back pressure which destroys the Coanda Effect, diverting flow to the other (exhaust) leg of the Y and allowing the lungs to deflate.  Once the back pressure is gone, the initial flow pattern re-establishes. This is a very simple method of using ventilators quickly. There is still a lot more research to be done on my part. The cost and labor for this innovation would be significantly less than what is needed for modern ventilators. 

So far into the proposal, I have encountered problems such as finding articles to reinforce my claims because there are so many opinions about the crisis. However, progress is being made.