Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Thursday that the State Department of Health has approved Northwell’s protocol allowing BiPAP machines to be converted into ventilators. The State has purchased 3,000 BiPAP machines from Philips in Pittsburgh, and 750 machines are already in stock and will be distributed to hospitals. The State has already taken a number of extraordinary measures to acquire more ventilators and build the State’s stockpile, including tracking where all the ventilators are located in New York and shifting their locations to meet the highest need and ending elective surgeries. If necessary, hospitals may also use anesthesia machine ventilators or use a “splitting” protocol where one ventilator is used for two patients using separate tubes.
Cuomo also announced the State has begun conducting a hospital-by-hospital survey on a nightly basis to take inventory of every hospital’s supplies. Additionally, all hospitals are being asked to contribute the supplies they don’t currently need to a central stockpile to be distributed to hospitals with the greatest need.
Cuomo also announced that 21,000 out-of-state individuals have volunteered to work in New York’s healthcare system on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, 85,400 health professionals in New York have signed up to volunteer as part of the State’s surge healthcare force.
