Our Story
We started our company based on the "breathe" ventilator project during the first COVID-19 wave in 2020, where our goal was to develop an emergency and transport ventilator for settings where patients have limited access to quality emergency care. While our focus shifted to the training platform, the technology for our ventilator is still part of our company. Reach out if you are interested.
Development insights
The breathe ventilator is a low-cost solution for emergency use, transport, and short-term critical care. Designed for intuitive use, robustness, and easy maintenance in harsh environments, it ensures safe patient care and supports capacity building. Here are some impressions from our 2022 trip to South Africa with our previous prototype.
Why do we need ventilators?
Health Care Systems
Many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) suffer from fragile health care systems. Access to modern diagnostic and treatment equipment is limited, and there is a shortage of appropriately qualified medical personnel.
Ventilators are Essential
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists ventilators as CORE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT for low-resource settings. They help to save lives as they are commonly used for transport, to treat trauma, sepsis, and other illnesses, and for post-surgical care.
Common Ventilators
However, most commercial ventilators are too expensive, break easily in harsh environments, are hard to repair, and are difficult to learn to use and operate.
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What's special about our ventilator?
Easy to use
A user-centered design based on usability studies with local medical practitioners makes our ventilator accessible for both novel and experienced users.
Affordable
The simplistic design and a strong focus on key functionalities significantly reduce the costs of our ventilator compared to other commercial products.
Easy to repair
The modular design and focus on local operating conditions make our ventilator easy to maintain and repair, enabling its long-term, sustainable use.