It’s been only a few days since the world learned about the life-saving effort by a young team of engineers to design and 3D print venturi valves in order to save COVID-19 patients’ lives at an Italian Hospital. As further recognition to the potential for 3D printing to deliver fast solutions in emergency situations, the Isinnova team now developed and successfully tested a 3D printed adapter to turn a snorkeling mask into a non-invasive ventilator for COVID-19 patients.

“In recent days we have been contacted by a former head physician of the Gardone Valtrompia Hospital, Dr. Renato Favero, who got in touch with Isinnova through a doctor from the Chiari Hospital, the health facility for which we were manufacturing the emergency venturi valves,” the Isinnova team writes. “Doctor Favero shared with us an idea to address the possible shortage of hospital C-PAP masks for sub-intensive oxygen therapy, which is emerging as a concrete problem linked to the spread of COVID-19: an emergency ventilator mask, produced by adjusting a commercially available snorkeling mask.”