Rush order of emergency ventilators arrives at Sacramento Executive Airport

A rush airlift of emergency ventilators arrived at Sacramento Executive Airport on Thursday morning to supplement the state of California’s stockpile of vital medical equipment to treat COVID-19 patients in intensive care.

The 240 ventilators were part of a 1,000-unit order from the state about two weeks ago. The devices were manufactured by Percussionaire Corp. in Sandpoint, Idaho, and were flown hours after coming off the production line by Kodiak Aircraft, also based in Sandpoint.

The ventilators are a repackaged version of the company’s infant ventilator that can work for adults as well as children and infants.

“The COVID-19 virus is really causing havoc all over the place,” said Percussionaire CEO Mark Baillie. “We needed to develop a quick emergency ventilator for this purpose.“

Baillie said the ventilators cost $5,000 each, compared to traditional systems that range from $25,000 to $50,000. They were transferred from the plane to a truck bound for a state warehouse to await distribution.

The flight went smoothly, according to Kodiak pilot Paul Carelli, who also made the trip Wednesday for an earlier shipment.

“It was clear all the way down,” he said. “There’s not a lot of traffic in the air.”

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 1:57 PM.