CAE has jumped into the fight against Covid-19, preparing to begin production of ventilators and launching complimentary training seminars for healthcare personnel. The Canadian training specialist said its healthcare engineers and scientists designed a “simple, maintainable, easy-to-manufacture” ventilator prototype in just 11 days. That prototype is undergoing approval by Health Canada and CAE is sourcing components to begin production in the meantime. CAE is hoping to have the first ventilators produced in three to four weeks and to manufacture as many as 10,000 over the next three months, a company spokesperson said.

In addition, the training seminars involve both web and hardware-based simulator training on safe practices of ventilation and intubation. “This is even more critical right now when ventilation and intubation are being done by healthcare professionals who are not trained for these complex procedures,” CAE said.

“CAE has employees around the world, and we are all proud of the impact we can have by putting our expertise to work to create a ventilator that can help save lives in the fight against Covid-19,” said CAE president and CEO Marc Parent. “Once this prototype is approved by public health authorities, we are looking at manufacturing thousands of units in our Montreal plant and in other sites over the next few months.”