The assisted breathing helmet developed in Ceará helps reduce the need for ICU admission by up to 60%, with a cost 72 times lower than that of a mechanical ventilator.
The Edson Queiroz Group donated 150 Elmo helmets to the São Paulo Health Department last week. The equipment will assist the public healthcare system in combating the COVID-19 pandemic. So far, the company has donated 566 units of the equipment, preventing several people from being intubated and having to be admitted to an ICU.
The device utilizes a mechanism of non-invasive artificial respiration developed by a multidisciplinary team in the state of Ceará and began production in December 2020 by the Group’s appliance company, Esmaltec. In four months, over 9,000 helmets have already been delivered.
The average cost of treatment with Elmo is up to 72 times cheaper than treatment with the use of a common mechanical ventilator acquired by the government, according to data from the Office of the Comptroller General (CGU), representing not only improvements in patient treatment but also savings for public funds.
“Social commitment and entrepreneurship are at the core of the Edson Queiroz Group, so we spare no effort to join forces in the fight against the pandemic. We put our professionals and structure in the development of strategies, alongside the government, so that we could help minimize the impacts caused by COVID-19,” says Carlos Rotella, president of the Edson Queiroz Group.
In addition to Esmaltec, responsible for the production of the helmets, the development of the equipment involved the Government of the State of Ceará, through the Department of Health (Sesa), the School of Public Health of Ceará (ESP/CE), and the Cearense Foundation for Support to Scientific and Technological Development (Funcap), as well as the University of Fortaleza (Unifor), the Federation of Industries of Ceará (FIEC) through the National Service for Industrial Learning (Senai Ceará), and the Federal University of Ceará (UFC).