JANUARY 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 13
Drs. Stanley John, Hugh Cassiere, and Todd Goldstein converted a BiPAP to a ventilator and and shared instruction on how to 3D print a hard-to-find t-valve
that others needed to replicate the efforts. Credit: Northwell Health.
COVID WAR ADVANCES
BY CLAUDE SOLNIK
In March, soon after the pandemic hit New York hard, Northwell Health held a virtual press
conference, unusual in itself, with executives socially distanced as they announced three
clinical trials related to Covid-19 treatments.
“We’re all living in a new reality,” Northwell Health President and CEO Michael Dowling said.
The three trials launched within weeks, not months.
Healthcare workers since then have continued fighting on the front lines of Covid-19 in a kind
of accelerated reality where hospitals in addition to providing care have had to devise new
ways to treat and fight the pandemic. While the story of heroism in hospitals has been widely
told, their roles in innovation, from supplies to treatment and trials, is a big part of the story.
Amid supply shortages, hospitals began building what they couldn’t buy. Facing potential
nasal swab testing shortages, Northwell teamed with the University of South Florida Health,
3D printing company Formlabs, and Tampa General Hospital to make 3D printed nasal swabs
to test for Covid-19 in patients.
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16CORNER 18 WHOLLY MOLI: MADE
OFFICE 21 CHARITY
26TECHIES
ON LONG ISLAND
SPOTLIGHT
T3: THE TOP
PRESS BUSINESS
HOSPITALS INNOVATE FROM COVID-19 TESTS TO TREATMENTS
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