The CEO of Ochsner Health, Louisiana’s largest nonprofit hospital system, appeared at a White House press conference Tuesday during an announcement that the administration was creating a public-private partnership that would allow hospitals to share ventilators.

President Donald Trump announced the federal government will partner with hospitals across the country to create the Dynamic Ventilator Reserve, which would allow hospitals to distribute unused ventilators to other facilities in need.

Hospitals have around 60,000 unused ventilators that could be part of the lending program, Trump said at the briefing, attended by health care executives from Ochsner, the American Hospital Association and HCA Healthcare, which is a majority owner of Tulane Health System and Cleveland Clinic.

"Within the past week alone, 20 top health systems have signed up for this dynamic ventilator reserve, representing over 4,000 ventilators," said Adam Boehler, a former Health and Human Services official who is part of the administration's coronavirus response. Boehler is currently CEO of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation and lived in New Orleans while he was the director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation within HHS.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the need for ventilators has skyrocketed, outpacing many facilities' ability to source the life support machine that pushes air into a patient's lungs.

Many models of the disease predict that need for ventilators, ICU beds and staff will peak at different times in different areas.

While Louisiana reached peak resource use over a week ago, according to a model from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, nearby states such as Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida are expected to peak between late April and early May.

Warner Thomas, who oversees around 25,000 employees in Louisiana and Mississippi, was one of a few hospital executives on hand at the briefing and delivered remarks.

“We certainly have been a recipient — and the state of Louisiana has been a recipient — of help getting ventilators to our state and to Ochsner Health,” he said.

Thomas said the hospital system is “proud to be a part and to help other communities around the country.”

He also thanked the president for directing surgical gowns to New Orleans.

Ochsner did not immediately return requests for comment about what is required of hospitals to be part of the lending program.