Several organizations around Idaho have joined the national movement to create personal protective equipment for people who need it.
They call their project #IdahoMakersUnite. It’s administered by the state office that promotes science and technical education.
In these days of the coronavirus, many professional groups have subtly shifted their missions to find a niche and help wherever they can.
In the case of the Idaho STEM Action Center, that niche is to work with school groups and others that use 3-D printers to make face masks and shields.
“It’s actually gone beyond just 3-D printing. We have a number of groups that are actually sewing very simple masks. We have other groups that are sewing a mask that has a pocket where you actually place a filter." said Angela Hemingway, Idaho STEM Action Center executive director.
Hemingway says they’re not as effective as the gold standard, the N-95 filter.
“But we’ve got a filter system called MERV 13, which is a furnace filter, or even Hepa vacuum bags. They can place that inside the zone mask and give it an additional level of protection," she said.
Hemingway is working with groups all over the state: the 3-D print club at Burley Junior High, folks at the public library in Salmon and at Boise State University. She’s also collaborating with Gizmo Coeur d’Alene, which recently built 200 face shields for workers in hospices, hospitals and doctors’ offices.
“We have a number of requests that are saying we’d like to get the fabric masks and then also a face shield to provide this double layer of protection since these are certainly not claiming to be the same level of protective equipment as the N-95 masks that exist in hospitals," she said.
Hemingway’s office is working to connect these makers’ groups, as she calls them, with people who are looking for protective equipment. Mostly they’ve been asking for masks and shields, but Hemingway anticipates requests for another piece of equipment.
“Our 3-D printers are set up and we are actively trying out some new print ideas for respirator parts and so we would be well poised to move in that direction should the need arise," she said.
Hemingway is steering people who want to get involved to her organization’s website: stem.Idaho.gov/IdahoMakersUnite.