HOUSTON – Healthcare workers are many of the people on the front lines during this coronavirus pandemic, but there are many others behind the scenes making a big difference as well.
From windshield wiper motor respirators to plastic sneeze guards for grocery cashiers, people are coming up with new inventions in this fight against the coronavirus.
At Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, one maintenance tech is also pitching in.
“I feel good about coming up with something they could use and keep everybody safe,” said Wayne Zahratka, a maintenance technician at Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center.
Doctors go to maintenance worker for Help
When doctors needed help, mechanic and carpenter Wayne Zahratka was called into action.
“They kinda drew it down on a little piece of paper and said this is what we’d like to have - I kinda ran off with that,” Zahratka explained.
Zahratka created an “ACU” or Aerosol containment unit. It’s been very useful for containing virus particles during certain procedures.
“It’s a plexiglass type of box holes have been cut into that allow them to go on top of a patient,” explains Dr. Tony Kim, Chief of Anesthesiology, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center. “One of those holes has been attached to an HVAC unit which in essence is pulling air inside the box and pulling air through a Hepa filter, which is designed to filter out the virus.”
“They wanted long legs, they wanted it to be moveable,” Zahratka said. “So I came up with an idea so they could move it around, set the OR beds.”
“When we put the breathing tube into a patient’s mouth and take that out, that’s a high point or risk of the patient coughing,” Dr. Kim said. “To try to minimize the risk of this, the box was created.”
There are various styles of these boxes on social media, but this box features moveable elements and the HVAC unit attachment. Zahratka was surprised that the doctors put his invention to such quick use.
“It’s kinda strange that we’ve had six or eight doctors come down here and they are like - ‘there’s nothing out there like this,’” Wayne said. “It all worked out really nice.”
Invention caught on, now expanding
The team at St. Luke’s is in the process of building at least 10 more ACU boxes for various departments at the hospital.
“Necessity is the mother of invention,” Dr. Kim said. “In some ways, you have to deal with the shortages of PPE, we are trying to conserve masks respirators, all things that are coming to bear are to reduce risk."
“If it’s just a little something it’s good. It’s really good," Zahratka explained. “Kinda protecting people a little bit at a time.”
Zahratka and his team are also building a coronavirus testing box for nurses to use. This large plexiglass box will protect the nurses from germs when they administer the tests. Zahratka has been in the maintenance department at St. Luke’s for 30 years.