Building ventilators to help COVID-19 patients could be much easier than we think.  Dr. Sem Lampotang is a Professor of Anesthesiology and the Director of the Center for Safety, Simulation and Advanced Learning Technologies at the University of Florida.  Based on a design Lampotang helped create 30 years ago,  simple "crisis" ventilators can be built with parts from Home Depot, Ace or Lowe's hardware stores for less than $300.   The "open-architecture" design can be downloaded anywhere and allows anyone to use locally-available parts if traditional parts can not be sourced.  Doctors and engineers in Mauritius, Lampotang's native country, have already produced ventilators using his design.