小蝌蚪APP

USA DIYers Innovate on PPE

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Posted on May 8, 2020

Thomas Becnel

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In a cluttered workshop at Mobile Makerspace in downtown, Ricky Green babysits a trio of orange-and-black 3D printers.

The tabletop machines melt plastic filament into frames for the face shields worn by doctors and nurses battling the novel coronavirus pandemic. A nationwide shortage of face masks and shields has prompted a do-it-yourself movement of volunteers across the country.

At Mobile Makerspace, progress is slow, even with extra printers borrowed from the Mobile Public Library.

鈥淲e鈥檙e doing what we can right now,鈥� said Green, an information technology instructor at the 小蝌蚪APP's School of Computing. 鈥淥bviously, at 10 a day, we鈥檙e not going to produce a great number. But we want to continue making them until the pandemic ends, or until somebody says they have enough.鈥�

Makerspace shops across the nation are following design specifications approved by the National Institutes of Health. The face shields can be worn, sterilized and reused.

Green, who founded the Mobile collaborative workshop in 2012, showed off a row of plastic frames in different colors. He tossed aside one that came off a printer with a frayed edge.

鈥淟oose belts,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檝e got to tighten 鈥檈m up.鈥�

The need for personal protective equipment also has attracted the attention of Dr. Matthew Reichert, an associate professor of chemistry and assistant vice president for research and economic development at South. Reichert鈥檚 research includes a focus on using ionic liquids in 3D printing. He has already toured Green鈥檚 shop to talk about ways they can collaborate.

鈥淪outh is coordinating with USA Health and providing them with models of what we can print for their PPE committee to discuss,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e hope to build a collaboration by focusing our efforts to help our local healthcare system.鈥�

Green, who earned bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degrees at South, is teaching three classes this semester. He started the face shield project, working mostly in the evenings at Makerspace, after reading a March 26 post on the Facebook page for the School of Computing at South.

Karin Bryson, an academic records specialist, has a sister who works as an emergency room nurse in California, which faces shortages of personal protective equipment. When she saw a pattern for people using 3D printers to make face shields, she wondered if something could be done in Mobile. She thought of Green.

鈥淗e always has the best ideas,鈥� Bryson said in a Facebook video.

Green didn鈥檛 need to be asked twice.

鈥淚 took off with it,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 told her that not only can we do it, I can talk to the public library and borrow their printers, too. We can get people to donate items and help out.鈥�

He started recruiting friends and family.

鈥淢y mother-in-law, she鈥檚 a seamstress, and she鈥檚 got some elastic we鈥檒l use to sew the straps for the shield,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he shields themselves are just plastic sheets you can buy at the store. You put 鈥檈m in a three-hole punch and clip them right to the frame.鈥�

At USA Health, Traci Jones, assistant vice president for medical affairs, said Mobile hospitals haven鈥檛 yet had any shortages of personal protective equipment.

鈥淲e鈥檙e good right now, but we haven鈥檛 had a surge yet,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淔irst and foremost, we want people to know that we appreciate all of the offers and outpouring of support.鈥�

Jones said do-it-yourself volunteers also have been donating cloth masks to and . 鈥淲e love the homemade masks,鈥� she said.

鈥淲e鈥檙e definitely interested in the face shields. What the shields do is help us prevent any droplets from getting on the masks. And the beauty of the shield is that you can clean them and use them again.鈥�

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