[COVID] Does anyone have any idea how to jury-rig a CPAP from a vacuum cleaner?

Okay.

This is going to sound "hold my beer and watch this" stupid.

This is "hold my beer and watch this" stupid.

I have sleep apnea; but I'm 40 years old and not at high risk. My parents, however ARE at high risk and do NOT have sleep apnea - dad DID, but he got surgery for it.

I don't think they kept the CPAP machine.

I worry about them since they're in Virginia and I'm in the UK, but not much I can do. I AM pissed at my mother for refusing to stop working at the food bank/homeless outreach. ("I'll stop when the need stops," she says.). Goddamnit, Mom...

So I'm very afraid my mom and dad will get it, and that there won't be enough ventilators in the hospitals to go around if they DO need it. The only thing I can think of is that my CPAP has positive air pressure - and COVID respiratory problems can be mitigated somewhat by positive air pressure. By all means - get them on a respirator ASAP, but if that can't be done because there are no respirators... is there any way to jury-rig a CPAP device from a vacuum cleaner? Maybe it's a case of literally putting the vacuum cleaner on blow and adjusting air pressure by making a hole in the duct tape bigger/smaller.

By all means, this is not SAFE and do NOT try this at home, and this is just an idea, but this is for when All Else Fails and doing *nothing* vs. doing something *stupid* can't possibly make things any worse.

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EDIT:

Hold up.

I'm not planning on just sticking a dustbuster up Mom's left nostril and hoping for the best.

There are a NUMBER of other things that I'm telling Mom to try first.

• Don't go out. (She won't listen to me on this one.) So you don't get sick.
• If you do get sick, and need to be put on a respirator at the hospital, go on a respirator at the hospital.
• If they don't HAVE a respirator, maybe ask about using a CPAP to buy time until they have a respirator free.
• If they don't HAVE a CPAP, then what?

What I'm trying to ask is: Is there a way for someone to take the equipment that they have available to make a device which could extend the time they have to get help in a nightmare, desperate scenario in which all else has failed?

And if this seems panicky and scary - YES. We are in a crisis, and if things continue to go the way things are going, we should have to consider that my parents will get sick and that they will need lifesaving care which will not be available.

When I see a problem like this, my instinct is not to give up but to prepare and try to engineer a solution. And I'm asking this question now, TODAY, so that if, god forbid, the worst case scenario happens, we're able to buy a little bit more time.

submitted by /u/BrianBoyko
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