curial was wearing an n95 mask, but he could feel the seal wasn’t right. air was leaking in around it.
he was trying to save a patient’s life but he said all he could think was: “‘i have an air leak, what am i breathing in right now? what am i bringing home to my wife and one-year-old?’ (the tent) really came out of self-preservation. i wanted to protect myself and those working with me, too.”
nearly all the components for the product are made in edmonton with the exception being the fan and filter which are shipped from ontario. assembly takes from two to four weeks, with a full unit costing around $10,000, which includes consumable supplies.
curial said this is a more affordable way to create the negative pressure zone required to remove infectious airborne particles when compared to renovating a whole room. he said he’s in discussions to offer his product to health groups in british columbia, saskatchewan, manitoba and quebec. curial said he would like to one day offer the tents to alberta and is currently in discussions with three hospitals.
curial started the business with high school buddy chris terriff in 2019.
“we were able to build a company with seven employees from scratch over two years and we definitely plan to keep growing and expanding,” he said. “i’m not an entrepreneur by trade. i just had an idea and i wanted to see it through to the end. the company came up around it.”