freshdaily.ca | Jody Brimacombe
CCM Hockey is now making protective hoods for healthcare workers in Canada, and the company promises that the cutting-edge design is “game-changing.”
The hoods are a collaboration between CCM Hockey, Montreal surgeon Dr. René Caissie, and Industrie Orkan — a Canadian leader in HEPA filters.
Unlike other medical equipment, the hoods are powered by an air-purifying respirator. At testing, it received an Assigned Protective Factor of 10 times the amount needed to qualify an N95 mask.
We’ve re-engineered our NHL Pro Custom Equipment production facility & have worked with Industrie Orkan & Dr. René Caissie of the Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, to produce game-changing protective hoods for healthcare workers.
Dr. Caissie began working on a prototype in his garage at the beginning of the outbreak.
“With the rapidly declining quantity of personal protective equipment available in my work environment, as did most of my colleagues, I began to look for solutions,” he said.
Caissie then reached out to CCM to see if the company could produce the device at scale.
CCM Hockey was more than happy to agree, with CEO Rick Blackshaw calling the nationwide effort to protect healthcare workers throughout the pandemic “the most important battle of our time.”
Industrie Orkan also got on board, offering its expertise in design to develop a fresh air supply system for the protective hood — all within 48 hours.
Once the hoods are approved by Canadian health authorities, CCM Hockey will produce up to 150 units per day.
CCM Hockey has also shared the manufacturing blueprints so that other companies can produce the protective hoods.
Because we’re all on the same team, manufacturing blueprints have been shared on an open source basis so as to permit any manufacturer capable of increasing our collective production capacity to protect our health professionals and save our communities.”The needs are so great that we are asking everyone out there to chip-in in any way they can,” Dr. Caissie said. “At this point, a robust supply chain is vital to producing as many devices as possible and distributing them without delay.”