Breath4Life : artificial respirator to save lives

In this time of crisis, “shortage” is a word we are hearing a lot: masks, toilet paper, tests, nurses,…and artificial respirators. In Belgium, we are afraid not having enough beds and material to take care of the increasing number of people affected by the COVID-19. To face the potential shortage of artificial respirators, Breath4Life, an artificial respirator prototype was created in only 10 days by the University of Louvain, in collaboration with more than 200 volunteers from the medical and industrial sectors. Among them, there is Nicolas Bronchart, our CEO.

About Breath4Life project

The Breath4Life project aims to respond to the potential shortage of respirators in Belgian hospitals. It is an open source project developed by the University of Louvain (Belgium) in collaboration with volunteers from the medical and industrial sectors. Being “open source”, the project is also aimed at helping other countries, other groups, wherever they are. This prototype has not been developed for commercial application but to respond to an emergency, the COVID-19 crisis.

Next step?

The prototype has been successfully tested on an artificial lung, and industrialization is still ongoing. A pre-production has been launched. But in the meantime, it looks like Belgian hospitals might not need extra-ventilators. Containment measures seem to keep the pandemic under control on that side. So current efforts are geared towards helping other countries already in need of ventilators (European countries mostly) or that might face the need soon (African countries, South America, South-East Asia).

Want to contribute?

The University of Louvain is looking for volunteers and donations to continue this project. As these artificial respirators will be given for free, they are looking for donators to make sure every hospital and every person receive the help they need.

Let’s face this crisis together!