Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering, Summer 2020 Vol. 5 No. 1 Summer 2020 | Page 23

ity converges to help 9 medical supplies light, ter on running student ugh deer while esearch, actury, led by Chris aking ment lastic laser sinter it, building up layers of laser-melted plastic powder; or machine it, cutting away at stock material. Whatever they did, they had to be quick. Days before, earlier in March, when leaders in Carilion Clinic’s pulmonology division spoke with Williams about the supplies they would need to fight COVID-19 locally, the Carilion team brought up the adapters. If intensive care units were to experience a surge of COVID-19 patients, the influx could overwhelm their existing supply of ventilators. To prepare for that scenario, the team aimed to repurpose the hospital’s fleet of bilevel positive airway pressure, or SPENCER ROBERTS FOR VIRGINIA TECH