Due to the corona virus, there is a shortage in some countries, and an expected shortage in other countries, of respirators/ventilators. In Italy, doctors cannot save everyone due to the lack of material for supporting respiration.
I came across this old instructable, where they wanted to build a respirator/ventilator for an expected avian flu pandemic.
https://www.instructables.com/id/The-Pandemic-Ventilator/
The same person has this blog
https://panvent.blogspot.com/
Here an example to use one respirator to intubate 4 patients at the same time, similarly to a splitter for a walkman.
https://hackaday.com/2020/03/19/saving-4-patients-with-just-1-ventilator/
There is a
project openair, where they want to build open source respirators
https://www.projectopenair.org/
Maybe engineers, nurses, doctors, DIYers, etc, from here can help in any of the projects. The respirator seems to be the weak link in survival during the peak of the epidemic.
If you are a doctor who cannot work due to being a high risk,
If you are an engineer who has time,
If you are an arduino freak with a few spare pieces on hand,
If you are a DIY er with a full toolshed,
If you have some spare parts laying at home
If you...
I am sure many can help. Otherwise, grow some food, that's also helping