As public health officials mandate people stay home to stay healthy and slow the spread of the new coronavirus, networks of makers are connecting remotely and mobilizing to address the need for protective equipment on the frontlines.
For hundreds in Thurston County, what once were hobbies have suddenly become a means to help others, find purpose, and connect with each other in the face of a global pandemic.
Lacey MakerSpace, a project of Saint Martin’s University, the City of Lacey, and the Thurston EDC Center for Business & Innovation, has two 3D printers running 24/7 to make face shields for frontline medical workers, says director Joseph Anderson. When the community saw that health care workers weren’t getting the protection they need and saw hobbyists across the country stepping up to meet that demand, MakerSpace jumped in.
“We reached out to all the makers we knew and said, ‘Who wants to get involved?’”Anderson said. More than 150 people have answered the call — people with sewing machines who can make masks, people with 3D printers who can make face shields, people with scissors who can pitch in.
“All our classes are shut down, the shop is closed,” Anderson said. “So, we could focus efforts solely on responding to this crisis. That’s 100 percent of our efforts right now.”
Ali Taylor-Cipolla is one of the makers who now 3D-prints headbands for face shields. The finished product is the plastic headband to which elastic and a clear plastic sheet are attached -- transparency films from overhead projectors have been the most easily obtainable clear sheets lately, Anderson said.
Medical workers wear the shields to protect their faces from the spatter of bodily fluids. The CDC recommends they consider wearing a cleanable face shield over N95 masks to reduce contamination and extend their use when supplies are depleted.
Taylor-Cipolla said she had just finished a web-development program in February and has been interviewing for jobs. In the past, she and her husband Brandon Cipolla have used their 3D printer to create a set of replacement wedding bands, Dungeons and Dragons figures, desk organizers — even a wrist brace when she was injured.
Now, she’s not only printing face shield headbands and experimenting with making other needed equipment, she’s working with the other local printers to see what supplies they need and making sure they have the correct pattern.
“This is what I can do with my skill set and my interests that actually still feels like I have a job when I don’t,” she said. “And so, yes, maybe it’s all of us, in concert, running 3D printers in our own homes cranking out. ... It’s having purpose in a time when it feels really, really aimless.”
