FAU Making Face Shields for Baptist Health South Florida
Wednesday, Apr 08, 2020
When leaders from Baptist Health South Florida approached our leadership team about helping them acquire more personal protective equipment (PPE) for their health care force, a team from FAU answered the call, providing a prototype solution within an hour. The team, which includes researchers from the
College of Engineering and Computer Science
and
Institute for Sensing and Embedded Network Systems (iSENSE)
, identified a simple way to produce protective face shields faster than they are being manufactured, using only clear polyester plastic, elastic fabric bands and a laser cutter.
Baptist Health is the largest health care organization in our region with 11 hospitals, including Boca Raton Regional Hospital, more than 100 facilities, and approximately 23,000 employees from Monroe to Palm Beach County. We expect to complete the initial order of 4,000 face shields within a week, followed by another order for 4,000 more. We also plan to share the blueprint for the solution with other academic institutions as well as industry.
I’m so very proud of the team that created this life-saving solution, and pleased that FAU is helping to protect our hardworking health care professionals during the COVID-19 crisis. We currently are seeking public, private and industry donations to help support this important project. For more information or to make a contribution, contact Dr. Stella Batalama, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, at sbatalama@fau.edu .
Baptist Health is the largest health care organization in our region with 11 hospitals, including Boca Raton Regional Hospital, more than 100 facilities, and approximately 23,000 employees from Monroe to Palm Beach County. We expect to complete the initial order of 4,000 face shields within a week, followed by another order for 4,000 more. We also plan to share the blueprint for the solution with other academic institutions as well as industry.
I’m so very proud of the team that created this life-saving solution, and pleased that FAU is helping to protect our hardworking health care professionals during the COVID-19 crisis. We currently are seeking public, private and industry donations to help support this important project. For more information or to make a contribution, contact Dr. Stella Batalama, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, at sbatalama@fau.edu .