COHOES, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A local automation equipment manufacturer is getting help from National Grid and the Center for Economic Growth to repurpose their business to make critical COVID-19 response materials.

National Grid is providing Precision Valve and Automation in Cohoes with a 35,000 dollar grant to offset the cost of turning the facility into one that can produce emergency resuscitators that keep COVID-19 patients breathing temporarily when a ventilator isn’t immediately available.

“At the state, local, regional, and federal level, we’re trying to save jobs and we’re trying to save lives,” says Katie Newcombe, Economic Development Representative for National Grid, “and by helping our manufacturers, like PVA, we’re able to do both with this programming.”

This, in response to federal and state officials calling on manufacturers to shift production to critical personal protective and medical equipment needed by front-line health workers and institutions responding to the pandemic.