Local Cryotherapy Manufacturer Switches To Ventilator Hoses

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — As hospitals across the country battle the coronavirus outbreak, there have been growing concerns about a possible ventilator shortage. Ventilators are necessary to keep the most critical patients alive and breathing, but many hospitals say they won't have enough to meet the demand if the outbreak continues.

Recently one hospital, New York Presbyterian, received a truckload of the ventilators they needed only to find they didn't have the oxygen hoses the ventilators need to function. The hospital sent out a call for help and found it at Cryo Innovations, a Newport Beach-based cryotherapy manufacturer.

Cryo Innovations says, when New York Presbyterian reached out to see if they had any spare oxygen hoses, they shipped the hospital every spare hose they had, but shortly after they realized they could do even more: they could begin making their own hoses and help hospitals in need all over the country.

Normally, Cryo Innovations builds cryotherapy chambers help heal patients through extremely low temperatures, but as ABC 7 reports, one of their engineers did some research and found that a tube they regularly make for the chambers could be slightly altered into a functioning oxygen tube that meets standard medical requirements.

After that discovery, the manufacturer says they reworked their entire production line and re-trained their staff to build oxygen hoses specifically for ventilators. Now, they say they're shipping out hundreds of hoses each day to hospitals in need, and hope to be able to make up to 500 hoses a day as they streamline their processes.

They're also asking other manufacturers to join in and help out. They say any company that has spare hoses, or can manufacture hoses should reach out to them so they can collaborate and get hoses to the hospitals that need them most. Anyone who knows of a hospital in need of hoses is also encouraged to give them a call.