SIUE School of Engineering Donates Face Shields to Anderson Hospital
The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Engineering (SOE) contributed 100 face shields to Anderson Hospital on Monday, Dec. 14. It is the second time during the COVID-19 pandemic that the SOE has assisted Anderson Hospital with personal protective equipment (PPE).
SOE Lab Manager Jagath Gunasekara, PhD, and Brent Vaughn, lab specialist and lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering, delivered the face shields to Anderson Hospital’s Lisa Huddleston.
“This is another excellent example of University/community collaboration,” said SOE Dean Cem Karacal, PhD. “Through the dedicated work of Lab Managers Brent Vaughn and Jagatah Gunasekara, they were able to quickly make production runs last spring.”
The face shields have four main parts: a frame with headband adjuster clips; foam strips for cushioning the frame from the wearer’s forehead; headband strap; and clear plastic shield material.
Vaughn noted that there is some assembly required by the recipients. “We buy precut 8-1/2 x 11-inch transparency material that we punch four holes into,” he said. “We give them to the recipients in the original packaging to install themselves to keep the sheets from collecting dust, oils and scratches.”
Earlier this year, the SOE donated 50 protective face shields to the SIUE Police Department along with 60 to Anderson Hospital. The SOE also supplied face shields to the SIU School of Dental Medicine and a private dental clinic in Alton.
Vaughn said conversations began in late March among SOE and SIUE Biological Sciences faculty regarding their 3D printers to produce PPE for nearby hospitals and first responders. “Through those collective ideas, we chose to focus on a face shield design (attribution to IC3D, Inc. and Budmen Industries) that had been reviewed by National Institutes of Health to meet FDA requirements for production of protective face shields,” he said.
Gunasekara acknowledged collaboration with Principia College, which donated 200 face shields to the effort. “Because of an on-going relationship with our solar car teams, Dr. Gunasekara reached out to me to see if there was anything Principia College could do, and we offered 3D printing services and materials,” said Principia’s Brian Kamusinga, assistant professor of chemistry. “Over several weeks, we made hundreds of components that were used to manufacture face shields. As an SIUE alumnus, I’m excited about continuing such collaborations in the future.”
A significant donation from Narayan Bodapati, PhD, former chair of the SIUE Department of Construction, greatly assisted the effort. “Dr. Bodapati is a well-known name in the region’s construction community,” Karacal said. “When he heard about our attempt to help with the crisis, he donated $10,000 to the School, so we could buy three additional 3D printers to increase production and acquire the raw materials to make most of the face shields produced through early summer.”
Photo (L-R): Anderson Hospital’s Lisa Huddleston inspects face shields with SIUE’s Brent Vaughn and Jagath Gunasekera.
