Lone Star College loans ventilators to assist health care workers

HOUSTON, TX – Lone Star College-Kingwood has loaned eight ventilators to local area hospitals in an effort to help combat the coronavirus. The LSC-Kingwood Respiratory Care program which uses these ventilators to train students also donated five nebulizers and 75 personal protective equipment kits.

“Lone Star College understands it’s up to all of us to do whatever we can to help in the fight against the coronavirus,” said Stephen C. Head, Ph.D., LSC chancellor. “We are honored to be part of this community and will continue to look for ways to help us move forward.”

Mechanical ventilators are machines that help people breathe when they are not able to enough on their own. Most patients who need support from a ventilator because of a severe illness are cared for in a hospital’s intensive care unit.

“We are so proud of the health care workers who are risking their lives to treat their patients,” said Katherine Persson, Ph.D., LSC-Kingwood president. “Loaning them our equipment and supplies is the least we can do to aid in the fight of COVID-19.”

Ventilators have become one of the most in-demand medical supplies as the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. grows and hospitals prepare for a surge in patients.

LSC, known as a leader in training health care employees, was recently approved to offer Bachelor of Nursing degrees by the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges starting fall 2020.