OLONGAPO CITY –– A member of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) has put together an improvised headgear that medical workers can use to provide oxygen to patients infected with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Using materials stocked at his printing business, NUJP safety officer Ansbert Joaquin fashioned ‘Aerosol Boxes,’ using a design made by Taiwanese doctor Lai Hsien-yung.
It is a transparent cube that covers a patient’s head during endotracheal intubation, a necessary procedure for infected or suspected COVID-19 patients who have difficulty breathing, said Joaquin.
The device has two holes on one side through which physicians can insert their hands while being shielded from the patient’s respiratory droplets.
Medical workers have complained about the dwindling supply for protective gear which they need when treating infected patients.
Joaquin said some donors have offered to finance the production of “aerosol boxes.”
“Our only problem is materials,” said Joaquin, a former Inquirer correspondent. “If by chance we can procure acrylics, we can keep producing the devices, but the Luzon quarantine has prevented us from getting deliveries from Manila,” he said.