Great Ideas From Blended Worlds
The modern medical respirator saves lives around the world every day. Forrest Bird invented his first respirator by blending his love of aviation with his knowledge of the human lung.
Before the Bird Respirator
The iron lung was standard medical equipment before the Bird respirator. But the iron lung was large, cumbersome, and expensive. Bird’s respirator is smaller, less expensive, and more effective. One model of the Bird respirator is small enough for use with premature infants.
Hidden Advantages of Longevity
Should an 86-year-old man continue to fly? Isn’t that dangerous? Bird says no. In some air emergencies, an elderly pilot can outperform a younger pilot. Why? Arterial sclerosis keeps the older pilot from blacking out!
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1 Comment
ElizabethSeptember 1, 2009
The Bird ventilator referred to in this article for use in premature infants is know as the “Babybird” and has been around at least 25 years. The next generation of Bird vents developed for the NICU/PICU populations- the V.I.P. Bird was popular in the 1990s and brought a new ability to
synchronization vent breaths with patient breaths and to facilitate weaning. This was possible because of the ventilator’s breath to breath responsiveness to the patient’s respiratory effort. The concept of volume controlled vs. pressure controlled ventilation was introduced in this population. Many other strides have been made in mechanical ventilation for the newborn and pediatric patient, not the least of which is the now commonly used High frequency ventilation . The choices are many, but the goal is always to select the system/mode that facilitates weaning, reduces the time spent on the vent, improves patient survival, and hopefully, limits the complications associated with mechanical ventilation. Those of us who work in intensive care environments owe a heartfelt “thank you” to the great computer tech minds that develop the software that runs the hardware that we find indispensable in our jobs.
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