Dave Hemink is a strategic and operational leader with diverse experience in medical devices, healthcare technology, and broader life sciences. His clinical experience is in gastroenterology, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, peripheral vascular, interventional oncology, vascular access, dialysis, and infection prevention and control. His portfolio expertise is in disposable medical devices, implantable medical devices, diagnostic and therapeutic catheters, software development, hardware/firmware, antibacterial/antimicrobial coatings, and integrated systems. He holds a degree in business and corporate communications from California State University, Fresno, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Which of Nonin’s products most help fight the coronavirus?
Over the past 35 years, Nonin Medical has become the world leader in innovating and manufacturing pulse oximetry systems. The current global pandemic and public health crisis have created a potential shortage for pulse oximeters, which have been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a critical clinical therapy in treating COVID-19 patients, citing: “Oxygen therapy is a major treatment intervention for patients with severe COVID-19. All countries should work to optimize the availability of pulse oximeters and medical oxygen systems.”
Nonin Medical has experienced an unprecedented increase in demand for our pulse oximetry products driven by the staggering spike in the need for oxygen therapy, such as ventilators, to accurately measure patients’ oxygen levels. Nonin is working hard to keep up with demand to get this critically important medical technology out to those who are in dire need as cases of COVID-19 continue to increase globally and in the U.S.
What changes have you made to help keep up with demand?
Our top priority is keeping our employees safe and healthy while also ramping up additional production capabilities. The best way we can continue to respond to this health crisis is by implementing guidelines around social distancing and providing a safe working environment for our teams. This ultimately allows us to continue meeting the critical needs of our healthcare professionals around the world that are on the front lines of diagnosing and treating COVID-19. We’re working around the clock to increase production and have added temp employees to assist with production and shipping.
We are also mobilizing our education efforts to support healthcare workers that are being called to work in areas that are outside of their core areas of skilled training, and we are in constant communication with our vendors and suppliers to ensure that we have the critical components to keep up with demand.
How do you expect your company’s role to evolve going forward?
We expect that Nonin will remain a critical supplier of pulse oximetry as the world navigates the COVID-19 pandemic. We anticipate the intense demand for pulse oximetry to continue and are readying our operations and production capabilities to support the world’s need for this critical parameter.
What can we learn from COVID-19 that can help prepare us for the next pandemic?
1) Have a strong leadership team in place that can work cohesively to mobilize and facilitate important decisions rapidly
2) Ensure processes are in place to keep employees safe and healthy
3) Be able to quickly enact employees working from remote offices with minimal business disruptions
4) Cross-train key individuals in order to ensure key functions remain operational
5) Elevate the all-company, supplier, and customer communications to ensure individuals are aware of important business decisions and the potential impacts
6) All of these items should be part of a larger business continuity plan
MAA COVID-19 INFORMATION DISCLAIMER:
The Medical Alley Association is providing COVID-19 related information, including the “COVID-19 Resource Connect” feature on its website and summaries of laws, executive orders, and government programs that may be of interest to members, as a public service. The Medical Alley Association makes no representations, guarantees, or warranties as to the accuracy, completeness, currency, or suitability of the COVID-19 related information provided by the Medical Alley Association on its website, in newsletters, or in any other communications. The Medical Alley Association specifically disclaims any and all liability for any claims or damages that may result from providing COVID-19 related information online or in other communications or linking to third party websites or other sources of information. The Medical Alley Association makes no effort to independently verify, and does not exert editorial control over, information provided by third parties.
The Medical Alley Association does not endorse any of the products, vendors, consultants, or documentation referenced in, or connected to parties through, the COVID-19 Resource Connect feature or via this email or other communications.
