SoCal Face Shields for Frontline Workers
Donation protected
We started with two kids, Zubin and Tenzing, who were printing face shields for friends and family in early March. They needed help and asked their current and former teachers and principals if they knew anyone with a 3d printer. The movement grew from there. We now have seven high schools and five elementary schools printing/donating material but the needs of our community is great. We focus mainly on community hospitals, nursings homes, assisted living centers, clinics, medical offices, anywhere where frontline workers are who may not be first in line to get ppe.
We make sure that the donations are not hoarded and give it out immediately in individual sterile brown bags with a few shields and a visor that is reusable. We chose to make the shield from the University of California San Francisco design which takes two hours rather than the shorter Verkstran stacked models due to feedback and longer term use. We also give away the Prussa model as well. From the feedback of over 100 nurses, cnas, respiratory techs, medical residents, and physicians- they prefer the UCSF design. However we print whatever the facility requests us if they are already using a design. The reason why we use that particular design is because they can put goggles underneath the design as well as the shields can be replaced by doing a simple 3 hole punch . This is especially important in ICUs and places with Covid positive patients.
We make sure that all the kits we give are sanitize and have several extra plastic shields for the visor. Our philosophy is we give shields to everyone at a facility we go to. The three biggest nursing homes in town have been fully given shields by us for all of their staff including custodial and food service staff. It sucks to go to a facility and give 20 shields when they need 150 or 200 shields. It takes us a little longer but everyone has the right to be protected especially in the nursing homes and assisted living centers where the risk of exposure is greater. The shields help prolong the life of the masks the front line workers are using. This is a stop gap measure until the normal supply gets back to normal.
We donate all of the shields. To date we have produced/bought more than 1200 shields and over 800 hours of printing but we get constant requests for entire departments. Because the design we use is currently used at UCSF, it 's easier to get it approved by emergency room departments and ICUs. We've given it to places in NYC, New Jersey, Bay Area, all over Southern California but with the emphasis on the Inland Valley and our communities here in Hemet, San Jacinto, Moreno Valley, and Perris. We've given it to two (Hemet Unified and San Jacinto Unified) entire school district's food volunteers who see thousands of kids each week handing food and study packets. We've given it to grocery stores, postal workers, any frontline worker who request it. We are now 9 robotics teams, teachers, principals, vice principals, alumni, students, and community members who produce and distribute the shields. We plan to do all of the assisted living places in town as well as the hardest hit nursing homes in Moreno Valley and Riverside with the same philosophy. We are largely self funded but will use 100 percent of the proceeds towards materials.
We make sure that the donations are not hoarded and give it out immediately in individual sterile brown bags with a few shields and a visor that is reusable. We chose to make the shield from the University of California San Francisco design which takes two hours rather than the shorter Verkstran stacked models due to feedback and longer term use. We also give away the Prussa model as well. From the feedback of over 100 nurses, cnas, respiratory techs, medical residents, and physicians- they prefer the UCSF design. However we print whatever the facility requests us if they are already using a design. The reason why we use that particular design is because they can put goggles underneath the design as well as the shields can be replaced by doing a simple 3 hole punch . This is especially important in ICUs and places with Covid positive patients.
We make sure that all the kits we give are sanitize and have several extra plastic shields for the visor. Our philosophy is we give shields to everyone at a facility we go to. The three biggest nursing homes in town have been fully given shields by us for all of their staff including custodial and food service staff. It sucks to go to a facility and give 20 shields when they need 150 or 200 shields. It takes us a little longer but everyone has the right to be protected especially in the nursing homes and assisted living centers where the risk of exposure is greater. The shields help prolong the life of the masks the front line workers are using. This is a stop gap measure until the normal supply gets back to normal.
We donate all of the shields. To date we have produced/bought more than 1200 shields and over 800 hours of printing but we get constant requests for entire departments. Because the design we use is currently used at UCSF, it 's easier to get it approved by emergency room departments and ICUs. We've given it to places in NYC, New Jersey, Bay Area, all over Southern California but with the emphasis on the Inland Valley and our communities here in Hemet, San Jacinto, Moreno Valley, and Perris. We've given it to two (Hemet Unified and San Jacinto Unified) entire school district's food volunteers who see thousands of kids each week handing food and study packets. We've given it to grocery stores, postal workers, any frontline worker who request it. We are now 9 robotics teams, teachers, principals, vice principals, alumni, students, and community members who produce and distribute the shields. We plan to do all of the assisted living places in town as well as the hardest hit nursing homes in Moreno Valley and Riverside with the same philosophy. We are largely self funded but will use 100 percent of the proceeds towards materials.
Organizer
Zubin and Tenzing Carvalho
Organizer
Hemet, CA