Bloom Energy Corp. and Almo Corporation are joining forces to refurbish unused, out-of-warranty ventilators and ship them to state agencies and hospitals throughout the country, particularly as an increasing number of patients experience critical respiratory issues as a result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
As part of this process, Bloom is refurbishing the ventilators, while Almo is using its national logistics network to ship the ventilators to and from Bloom’s manufacturing facilities in California and Delaware for refurbishment, and out to the state agencies and hospitals that need them the most.
The Society of Critical Care Medicine estimates that 960,000 COVID-19 patients in the U.S. may need to be put on ventilators, but there are only about 200,000 such working machines available. According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, there are 12,700 ventilators in the national “stockpile.” And thousands more sit idle, having reached their end-of-service life.
Bloom is working with biomedical engineers at Stanford Health Care to test the functionality of its refurbished ventilators.
“This is our call to action,” Bloom Energy Founder, Chairman and CEO, KR Sridhar, said. “We have to help. Manufacturing is in our DNA and we believe that it allows our country to stand strong, especially during a time of crisis and need. Like our customers and the communities we serve, we are strong and we are resilient.”
Almo, a national distributor of appliances, A/V equipment, furniture and housewares, has more than 2.5 million square feet of distribution space in eight warehouses across the country.
“Our focus has always been on family—the health and safety of our local community and people of this nation is our priority now and we want to do what we can to help in this time of crisis,” Warren Chaiken, President and CEO, Almo Corporation, said. “Our logistics processes are organized and efficient, which puts us in a great position to receive the refurbished ventilators from Bloom and quickly get them to state agencies and healthcare facilities so they can be immediately put to use.”
More details are in this CNBC interview.