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Hall & Wilcox lends hand to COVID crisis in developing nations
Hall & Wilcox has played a part in supporting the development of an innovative ventilator designed for use in developing countries during the COVID-19 crisis.
Emma Musgrave
The firm provided pro bono assistance to the Newcastle-based developers of SparkVent, which is an innovator ventilator aimed to aid those individuals suffering amid the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries.
Hall & Wilcox Newcastle partner Matthew Smith said Hall & Wilcox’s pro bono assistance included setting up a company for the venture, applying for appropriate charitable exemptions and advising on intellectual property issues.
“It’s not often that you get the opportunity to donate your time to a project that could have a profound impact on saving lives in developing countries across the globe,” Mr Smith said.
“It was very fulfilling to work with Newcastle people who had developed this quite novel and pragmatic solution to an immediate problem of the global pandemic.”
Commenting further on the build of SparkVent, Dr Meaures said: “It was crazy at the beginning. We are a small team, all volunteers, and we were just trying to move as fast as we could to design a ventilator that could potentially save lives.”
“Our aim was to make a simple, cheap ventilator that will hopefully get used well beyond the COVID-19 crisis.
“...With a standard ventilator, you need fully functional biomedical departments to keep it running. Originally, I was concentrating on the patients who will end up in an ICU. But putting patients in an ICU bed in developing countries consumes a huge amount of resources.
“There will be a larger group of patients that will be struggling to breathe but don’t need an ICU bed and they will be most helped by this ventilator.”
Emma Musgrave
Emma Musgrave (née Ryan) is the managing editor, professional services at Momentum Media.
Emma has worked for Momentum Media since 2015, including five years spent as the editor of the company's legal brand - Lawyers Weekly. Throughout her time at Momentum, she has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest stories in corporate Australia. In addition, she has produced exclusive multimedia and event content related to the company's respective brands and audiences.
Prior to joining Momentum Media, Emma worked in breakfast radio, delivering news to the Central West region of NSW, before taking on a radio journalist role at Southern Cross Austereo, based in Townsville, North Queensland.
She holds a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) degree from Charles Sturt University.
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