Continuing the project it launched in April to help “arm” Metro Manila frontliners in the fight against COVID-19, the Association of Carriers and Equipment Lessors (ACEL) donated 16 incubation boxes to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) last May 23, 2020.
A health research facility located in Muntinlupa, the RITM is at the forefront of the government’s campaign to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. In the early months of the pandemic in the Philippines, it was the only laboratory in the country with the capability to test COVID-19 cases. Today, it has been designated, together with the Philippine General Hospital (PGH), as the COVID-19 referral center for Metro Manila.
The 16 incubation boxes made up the second set of ACEL’s pandemic-related donations. Last April 22, the Association turned over 200 face shields and 16 hazardous materials (hazmat) suits, more commonly known as personal protective equipment (PPEs), to the Providence Hospital located on Quezon Avenue in West Triangle, Quezon City.
Incubation boxes are transparent cubes made of plastic that are now being used in many hospitals around the world to provide healthcare workers with additional protection when they perform endotracheal intubation, a necessary procedure for infected new COVID-19 patients who suffer respiratory failure. Following the design pioneered by a Taiwanese doctor, two holes are cut on one side of the box so that when it is placed over the head of the patient, doctors can insert their hands through these holes to perform the procedure while being shielded from the patient’s respiratory droplets.
The incubation boxes were delivered to RITM by Association member Tri-Globe Transport Services and Trading Inc., a company owned and managed by Eduardo P. Trinidad, ACEL president. “I would like to thank Tri-Globe Transport Services and Sir Ed for their assistance in delivering the incubation boxes,” Laurice S.D. Ambrosio, the Association’s executive officer who personally turned over ACEL’s donation to RITM, said. “And a big ‘Thank you!’ too to their employees, Leonardo Daculio, Henry Dacer and Jarold Ronn Bautista who helped carry the 16 boxes,” she added.
