“Our whole purpose is to help save lives,” said Kindall Palmer, who co-founded Neonatal Rescue in 2016. The organization develops life-saving ventilators and training programs to distribute to developing countries.
The motivation behind starting the organization was deeply personal to Palmer. His first child was born with a congenital heart defect and was life-flighted to Primary Children’s Hospital. “Eighty percent of the two months that he was there, he was on a ventilator,” Palmer said. “Without this technology, we wouldn’t have him here with us today.”
The experience Palmer and his family had fueled the passion to start Neonatal Rescue. They worked with medical professionals, engineers, and in-country contacts to develop the NeoLife Ventilator, a newborn ventilator that can be used by birth attendants around the world to resuscitate babies.
Compared to most ventilators, NeoLife is affordable, durable, and effective so people around the world can have access to this life-saving technology. Additionally, they have a training protocol program that teaches the end users how the ventilator works and how to use it.
Palmer was in his last semester of his MBA at the U when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Countries around the world began projecting ventilator shortages.
The team worked tirelessly to modify the NeoLife Ventilator to create a ventilator suitable to treat adults suffering with respiratory problems due to COVID-19.
Their creation, the AdultLife Pro Ventilator, was authorized for emergency use by the FDA in June 2020. In January 2021, their first order was shipped to four different countries in Africa, with plans to continue distribution around the world.
More articles like this in ‘Student Innovation @ the U!’
Find this article and a lot more in the 2021 “Student Innovation @ the U” report. The publication is presented by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute to celebrate student innovators, change-makers, and entrepreneurs.
