Stryker announces new hospital beds to aid healthcare facilities during COVID-19 pandemic
PORTAGE, Mich. — Thousands of companies across the country are being asked to step up by President Donald Trump to help battle coronavirus disease 2019.
Company leaders at Stryker in Portage developed an emergency relief hospital bed to help health facilities throughout the country.
“People are at the heart of what we do, and COVID-19 hasn’t changed that. It has amplified our mission of making healthcare better. We’re focused on meeting the supply needs of our customers, so they can focus on taking care of patients right now. That’s why we raced to develop our emergency relief bed, which will help emergency responders and caregivers move and position patients efficiently during this critical time,” Stryker Medical Division President Brad Saar said.
Stryker started working on the low-cost beds toward the end of March 2020.
They use readily available materials to speed up production of beds.
The company sent out its first shipment of beds this week to a facility in New York City.
In a few weeks, Stryker will be able to pump out at least 1,000 beds a day.
Stryker leaders said their goal is to give facilities that are on the front lines more beds to treat patients.
“This is a bed that we can manufacture quickly, we can manufacture at scale. It’s going to be terrific for patients and very comfortable. This is also easy for the caregivers to use and also a very significant price reduction relative to what a standard hospital bed, so we are really excited about it,” Andy Pierce, group president MedSurg and Neurotechnology at Stryker, said.
The emergency relief beds can accommodate patients with respiratory issues including ventilated patients.
Stryker was able to develop a new supply chain just for this bed and they anticipate in the coming weeks to produce 10,000 beds a week that will go all over the world.