MURFREESBORO, N.C. - To help deal with the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) among healthcare workers, a professor from Chowan University decided to take action.
For the past few weeks, Dr. Mitchell Henke, Associate Professor of Graphic Communications, has been making face shields.
He started by making a number of prototypes, getting feedback from a nurse to make sure they were durable and comfortable.
"There are two parts to it. There's the frame itself and then there's the Mylar shield part, the clear portion," explained Dr. Henke.
He used ArtiosCAD software to design the pieces and a Kongsberg cutting table in the school's production lab to make the two pieces needed.
So far he’s made more than a hundred shields.
They’ve been sent to a number of places including Southampton Memorial Hospital in Franklin, Va. and N.C. Baptists on Mission.
"[We're] trying to do anything we can to help the people on the front lines that are really, they’re protecting us, they’re protecting us, so we need to do all we can to help them," said Dr. Henke.
He’s been able to get some materials donated, including two boxes of Mylar from Fujifilm.
Dr. Henke says he plans to keep making the shields as long as there’s a need and he has supplies.
