AARC Plays Role in Government RFP for Disaster Vents

May 21, 2008

The U.S. government has just issued a new RFP for portable ventilators to be included in the Strategic National Stockpile, and the AARC had a hand in the process.

AARC members Richard Branson, MS, RRT, FAARC, and Ray Ritz, BA, RRT, FAARC, participated in a meeting with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assist in the writing of the requirements contained in the RFP.

“This RFP will require that a ventilator come equipped with the necessary equipment to care for the patient – so that means ventilator circuits, heat and moisture exchangers for adult and peds, suction catheters, and all the ancillary devices to provide ventilation, such as oxygen hoses, etc.,” says Branson.

The $31 million package will add about 4000 ventilators to the stockpile.

Branson says the AARC’s Guidelines for Acquisition of Ventilators to Meet Demand for Pandemic Flu and Mass Casualty Incidents was among the documents used to support the functional requirements of the ventilators to be purchased, emphasizing the growing role the Association is playing in helping the nation prepare for a pandemic flu or other worst case scenario involving a large respiratory component of care.

The RFP comes on the heels of a new set of guidelines published in the May issue of CHEST -- Definitive Care for the Critically Ill During A Disaster -- which also incorporated many of the components found in the AARC’s ventilator guidance document.

Branson says the AARC will continue to monitor the RFP process to ensure respiratory therapists are well aware of which ventilators are chosen. He believes it will be important to ensure RTs are trained on the ventilators, and encourages his fellow therapists to remain current on these and other mass casualty planning developments.