Heroes & Helpers –
Dr. Julie Tammaro is an anesthesiologist at Lowell General Hospital in Lynnfield, MA, a mother of four and now the creator of the Intubation Box, a clear polycarbonate box, with access holes that open and close, designed to provide protection for healthcare workers at the front-lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Tammaro said the box is particularly helpful during critical procedures when COVID-19 is most likely to spread through the air.
“When a patient is intubated, which is the term for when they have a breathing tube put in to connect them to a ventilator,” Tammaro said. “Likewise, when they’re extubated, and that breathing tube comes out.”
Tammaro was inspired by a similar box being used in Taiwan. She recruited her brother-in-law, Ian Brady, to help her. He has a background in health-tech and has been helping to facilitate manufacturing and distribution of the boxes.
“It’s amazing,” Brady said. “We first reached out to a manufacturer in Chicago and within 24 hours we had two prototypes designed, built and overnight shipped back to us over the weekend.”