Eyeless on Campus: COVID19 VENTILATORS--Lab Assignment 008--HAMILTON MEDICAL, RENO, NV

Friday, March 27, 2020

COVID19 VENTILATORS--Lab Assignment 008--HAMILTON MEDICAL, RENO, NV

IMMEDIATE REL//@CD/TACNET//CMDMSGCTR//URGENT

Jour107.1001 Lab//James L’Angelle//University of Nevada, Reno//Spring2020

A Breath of Fresh Air

Hamilton Medical of Reno, Nevada is one of the leading suppliers of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) ventilators for hospitals. In the news today, President Trump used his authority under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to order General Motors to manufacture hospital ventilators. (Ars Technica) An opportunity is available to get the inside story from Hamilton Medical on their products from its warehouse on Aircenter Circle in Reno.

     A call placed through to the company this afternoon was answered by the operator who informed me that they were “way too busy” to do any interviews at the moment and have been instructed to deny reporters access to their facility. However, a search of LinkedIn shows that there are a great number of personnel available with accounts at that website who may be contacted through establishing a connection.
     Groundwork for a possible contact with sales or training personnel would be the first step followed up by direct connection and email requests, bypassing the chain-of-command protocol under the no interview blackout. Currently, the LinkedIn pages indicate a wide variety of sources to select from upper level management including CPAs to plant engineers, many of whom are directly accessible in the Reno area.
     Today’s briefing by President Trump at the White House was meant to inform the public of the rescue legislation he just signed into law, instead he was bombarded with questions from the press on ventilators. In addition, when the President called the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, who had just contracted the virus, the first thing the PM asked for was ventilators. (ABC Live)
     With the exponential rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases, the key to survival lies in that particular mechanical device, where a major manufacturer of the product is located in The Biggest Little City. In addition, I have subscribed to the two newsletters provided by the company, the Intelligent Ventilation Newsletter and the Hamilton Medical News.

Questions for the Interview:
How has demand increased with the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 virus?
Is there a particular model more suited for this virus as opposed to a normal ICU case?
Is there adequate personnel in the workforce to meet the requirements of demand?
Does Hamilton have control on where the devices are being distributed or is this under the direction of the federal government? (ref to DPA 1950)

Hamilton Medical, 4655 Aircenter Circle, Reno, NV 89502 (775) 858-3200

'On-the-job emergency training': Hospitals may run low on staff to run ventilators for coronavirus patients
As the coronavirus threatens the nation's health care system, hospitals are seeking tens of thousands of ventilators to help patients breathe as the disease attacks their lungs. But someone needs to operate those breathing machines. And there aren't enough specially trained personnel, health care experts and reports warn.

Sources
Hamilton Medical, https://www.hamilton-medical.com/en_US/
GM Ventilators, https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/03/trump-orders-gm-to-make-ventilators-claims-company-is-wasting-time/
Sources (cont.)
Hamilton Medical @ LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/people/?facetCurrentCompany=%5B%22153354%22%5D

IMMEDIATE REL//@CD/TACNET//CMDMSGCTR//URGENT

...

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...

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