Innovation

One of the characteristics of a free civilization is innovation. Finding new solutions to problems that come up. In fact, in a free society, new problems are an opportunity. If you can come up with a solution—a way to help people with a given problem—then you get shown appreciation for that, often in the form of payment to represent the value. But, regardless of immediate payback, innovation happens, because free people have an attitude of looking for ways to meet the needs of others.

That kind of thing has been going on during this pandemic crisis.

There have been calls for the president to invoke the war powers act, which technically he has done. But, as he says, and as the Surgeon General has reiterated, you don’t have to order people to do what they’re doing anyway.

Here are some of the solutions to problems that have been offered.

Ford Motor Company—also GM and Tesla—offered to build ventilators to meet the shortage. Because of air conditioning, heating, and circulation systems they build into cars, they just need to do a bit of retooling. 

What’s interesting is that it’s something they knew about their industry, when they recognized society’s need, that a central government planner would not have known. If government had needed to choose an industry to gear up and make more ventilators, it probably would have turned to the obvious—the manufacturers already building those things. But those companies are probably already functioning at near their capacity, which was built on what had been the demand for their supply. They would have had to build new factories from the ground up. Auto manufacturers just have to retool their existing manufacturing, to adapt toward producing the needed ventilators. No new buildings necessary. They offer, and the President says go for it, and thank you.

It’s a win-win. Rather than shutting down their facilities, because shutdowns caused by the virus had led to fewer people buying cars, the automakers can keep people working to produce something considered essential.

New Dyson-invented ventilator
image from here

Dyson, the vacuum cleaner manufacturer, also went into innovation mode. In just ten days they invented a new ventilator—adapted from the air-moving machine they already know so well—and are set to produce 15,000. Thank you, vacuum cleaner people; government hadn’t thought of you. 

Innovation is underway everywhere. In hospitals, where ventilators are in use, Dr. Alain Gauthier, an anesthetist in Ontario, Canada, thought, “What if this one ventilator could be adapted to serve more than one person at a time? Does it produce enough air pressure?” The answer was yes. With ten minutes of “evil geniusing,” he turned a single ventilator into one that could serve nine patients.   Dr. Gauthier brought the knowledge to bear, but he didn’t invent it; he watched a YouTube video that showed how two Detroit doctors reworked the machines back in 2006. Not all machines can provide that much added capacity; nine is an ultimate. But even doubling or tripling the usefulness of a single machine is a significant improvement.

tweet from a coworker of Dr. Gauthier
found here

Another problem in need of a solution is a shortage of surgical masks. I checked online the first day I heard about the virus spreading—back in January. Amazon was sold out. They let you put a note on your account to be notified when they become available again. So far they haven’t. That’s OK for me; I’m not a medical professional. In a pinch, I think we’re good with a few painting masks in the garage—which, by the way, are being used now by hospitals, since that is a perfectly adequate new source in a shortage.

A high school friend is a quilter, and posted
these masks on her Facebook page.

Someone came up with the idea of sewing surgical masks, and they put out a pattern. They may not be as safe for healthcare workers as the N-95, but they will be better than running out and may be adequate for less critical care. Quilters and crafters have been using their fabric scraps and sudden abundance of time to fill the demand for face masks—with color. And they’re using social media to find sources to get them where they can get used.

Just setting your mind to a problem is a way toward solving it. Back in 2017, here in Houston, we were using a whole lot of N-95 masks when mucking out flooding homes, to keep from breathing in mold spores and other illness-causing things. Our church was one of many to send out work teams, and our worldwide relief efforts supplied a lot of supplies. (We still have a generator at our house, supplied by the Church, from Hurricane Ike, for example.) And they continue to do that worldwide. 

Anyway, a stake president (leader over around ten congregations) in College Station, about an hour and a half from Houston, remembered that they had stored a box of supplies at the church building after Harvey relief. Our churches aren’t really set up for storing things, but many of them do have yellow Helping Hands shirts and a few leftover supplies in a box because of frequent disasters in the Gulf Coast region. That box came to mind when he became aware of the N-95 mask shortage. And, sure enough, there was a good supply of several hundred he was able to donate to local hospitals.

The way a free society is set up, people tend to think in terms of solving people’s problems. It’s what we do. And I’m happy to see that, so far during this pandemic, that’s what people are up to. If we keep it up, we’ll be out of this soon, and back to our regular lives—with maybe a little better appreciation for the innovators and problem solvers. And our free lives.