A Canadian ICU doctor responds to COVID-19 questions in this Q&A facilitated by The Walrus magazine.

, "Anatomy of a Pandemic," ICU doctor Kevin Patterson volunteered to answer questions sent in by readers.

In this 25-minute clip uploaded to YouTube, the magazine's senior editor Hamutal Dotan poses questions 

gathered from readers on topics ranging from universal basic income, shifts to our day-to-day lives, and what medical practises could look like following isolation. 

"I would like to see us continue to pull together and think hard about how our society can work better to safeguard the most vulnerable among us," says Dr. Patterson. "We can use this as a check-in moment to think about how risk and vulnerability are apportioned throughout our community."

ICU doctor Kevin Patterson answers your COVID-19 related questions

ICU doctor Kevin Patterson answers COVID-19 related questions

The website helps non-ICU medical professionals redeployed from other specialties brush up on the skills needed to treat critically ill patients.

A team of researchers and clinicians at the University of Toronto and several teaching hospitals, calling themselves the Critical Care Education Pandemic Preparedness Team (CCEPP), has put together a website to help non-ICU medical professionals quickly acquire the knowledge they need to treat COVID-19 patients. Many health care professionals are being redeployed from their usual specialty to support intensive-care teams that fear becoming overwhelmed with patients during the pandemic. Those coming from other areas of medicine may not have recent ICU experience and need help refreshing or acquiring the appropriate skills.

The Quick ICU Training for COVID-19 website offers educational and practical resources on intensive care and treatment of severe respiratory illness, including lectures, procedural videos, slide presentations, and pocket guides that doctors can print out and take with them to work.

Though the information on the website is based on Ontario’s health system, other medical professionals from around the world have  begun using this valuable online resource as a reference.

Toronto doctors and researchers create ICU training guide for health care professionals fighting COVID-19

Toronto doctors and researchers create ICU training website for health care professionals fighting COVID-19

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng and colleagues were inspired after a donation of meals brought about a surge in morale.

Dr. Kwadwo Kyeremanteng is quickly becoming a familiar face and beacon of positivity in Canada’s fight against COVID-19. An intensive care and palliative physician at the Montfort and Ottawa Hospitals, as well as a research scientist, Kyeremanteng produces the podcast 

, which explores ways to improve health care delivery in Canada. He was also recently 

 for his powerful message of optimism in the face of the global pandemic.

Adding to this long list of heroic acts, Kyeremanteng, along with some Solving Healthcare colleagues, has now raised over $30,000 in a 

, which will go towards purchasing meals for ER and ICU health care workers at Ottawa’s hospitals.

 he was inspired to launch the campaign after seeing a surge in morale brought about by a local restaurant delivering free meals to one of the hospitals where he works. “Because of the tension, morale can be low at times. When you saw the peoples faces when that food came through the door, and that relief and that sense of being seen and acknowledged, it meant the world to the team,” Kyeremanteng told CTV. Kyeremanteng and colleagues saw an opportunity to recreate this experience and, to date, have raised more than 10 times their initial goal of $3,000.

This ICU doctor raised over $30,000 to feed frontline health care workers

Over 800 licensed therapists have joined The Ontario COVID-19 Mental Health Network.

A group of Ontario mental health professionals have come together to support frontline health care workers impacted by COVID-19 with free remote therapy. According to a 

 set up for the initiative, “this population lacks adequate emotional and mental support, and can feel isolated and stigmatized for their contact with those who have been infected.”

The initiative’s founder Karen Dougherty told 

 that she was inspired to create the network after hearing of a similar project in New York. She hopes mental health professionals in other provinces across Canada will follow suit. "We need these folks to be resilient and to have the strength to perform under stress," Doughtery said in the interview. "These are the people who are going to keep us alive. We need to give them the support that they need."

Ontario therapists who are willing to offer free remote sessions, as well as frontline health care workers in need of mental health support are invited to request or volunteer support 

. To date, over 800 licensed therapists from across the province have signed up to volunteer their time to the cause.  

Ontario therapists offer free support to frontline health care workers impacted by COVID-19

Through a partnership with local medical specialists, AON3D has already delivered hundreds of units to front-line healthcare workers at Montreal General Hospital. 

A doctor at McGill University Health Centre and a project manager at Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital reached out to local 3D printing company AON3D to help ease the impending shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) required by front-line health care workers. The company was able to reopen its facility and produce a prototype face shield within two hours. Just days later, they donated hundreds of shields to Montreal General Hospital, and expect to produce and send out 10,000 more within the next week. CEO Kevin Han says some AON3D employees are voluntarily working 24-hour shifts to help ramp up production capacity.

The face shields protect medical workers who must be in close contact with COVID-19 patients during procedures, but still allow them to see and move around properly.

AON3D used an open-source face shield design created at Georgia Tech and adapted it to their needs. Han says any 3D printing company can do what they have done, and offered his support to similar businesses that want to get involved and support health care workers in the fight against COVID-19.

Montreal 3D printing company pivots to make face shields for healthcare workers

Retired medical professional John Strupat of London, ON wants his design to be available for "anyone from anywhere."

John Strupat, a retired respiratory therapist who invented this 

low-cost, portable and easy to make ventilator

, has opted to make his design open source; available to anyone 

Amid a critical shortage of ventilators globally, Strupat's prototype could be patented for lucrative financial returns. However, the London, ON man's selfless decision is what makes him one of today's 

. Going open source with his designs will allow manufacturers worldwide to begin production as soon as possible.

His design costs about $500 per unit—a fraction of the $25,000 design currently used at Canadian hospitals.

Canadian who developed a low-cost ventilator makes his design available for free

Canadian doctor who came up with low-cost ventilator makes his design available for free

Global innovators compete to create life-saving designs, the best of which will receive a $200,000 prize.

The Montreal General Hospital Foundation is on a mission to save lives through innovation with a recently-launched ventilator design challenge. The foundation's 

 calls the contest, which runs until the end of March, "a 2-week sprint to collect the best ideas from anywhere in the world."

Ventilators have been growing scarce in parts of the world, as COVID-19 continues to spread. A website set up for the contest, which is co-sponsored by the Research Institute of the McGill University Heath Centre, dictates that proposed designs should be simple, low-cost, and easily manufactured and maintained. A panel of experts will assess the designs, and the top three will be made available for download. A $200,000 CAD prize will be awarded to the winner.

The Foundation's CEO, Jean-Guy Gourdeau, told 

 that, "a big part of this challenge is looking at design solutions that could be shared so that it could be made available to many, and therefore you’re not necessarily limited by current manufacturers."

Montreal foundation hosts ventilator design contest

Montreal hospital hosts ventilator design competition

With the campus closed, a faculty member said leaving the ventilators unused "didn't make any sense."

Fanshawe College in London, ON has generously shared its supply of ventilators, normally used for training purposes in their respiratory therapy program, with the region's largest hospital, London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC). With their campus closed, faculty member Dave Wall told the 

 that the alternative of leaving the ventilators locked up on campus amidst the COVID-19 pandemic "didn't make any sense."

While not everyone infected with COVID-19 requires a ventilator, some who fall critically ill require them to maintain proper levels of blood oxygen.

LHSC has been contacting various educational facilities over the last week in the hopes of borrowing equipment to increase their life-saving capacity in the event of a large-scale coronavirus outbreak in the area. They routinely share equipment on an as-needed basis with other hospitals in the region, meaning Fanshawe's ventilators could end up at another facility with a more urgent need.

“This is about the greater good and making sure that we’re doing whatever we can to help," said Wall.

The London Free Press later shared in a tweet that the loan of ventilators was followed up with a donation of protective equipment, including safety glasses, masks, and gloves to other regional medical facilities. This equipment is vital in preventing the spread of COVID-19 to health care workers. 

Fanshawe College shares ventilators used for teaching with local hospitals

Fanshawe College shares ventilators used for teaching with hospitals

En préparation pour l'éventuelle vague de la COVID-19, Dr Gauthier double la capacité des soins par ventilateurs dans son hôpital à Perth, Ontario.

 sur Youtube créé par Charlene Babcock, une médecin urgentiste du Michigan qui a étudié l’idée de doubler les patients sur un seul ventilateurs, c’est là que Dr Gauthier a été inspiré. 

En utilisant deux tubes au lieu d’un sur un ventilateur et en doublant sa puissance, il a permis de doubler le nombre de patients ventilés en dernier recours.

Dr Gauthier explique qu’un bon nombre de la population de Perth et Smiths Falls sont plus âgés et seront plus à risque s’ils sont touchés par la pandémie de la COVID-19. C’est pourquoi ces sortes de solutions créatives sont extrêmement utile, surtout dans les milieu rural, où la possibilité pour un hôpital d’augmenter sa capacité d’urgence pourrait être limitée.

Ses collègues étaient très enthousiasmés par cette découverte. Dr Alan Drummond, un médecin urgentiste à l’hôpital, a mentionné qu’il avait même rompu le protocole de distanciation sociale pour faire un câlin au Dr Gauthier.

Category: Healthcare Heroes