We are grateful to the team of volunteers at University at Albany for making and donating 3D printed face shields to Living Resources’ front line workers. The University’s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity (CEHC) and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) joined forces in late March to create these medical grade face shields. They are joined by an ever growing number of community volunteers who assist with the assembly and packaging of this much needed personal protection equipment (PPE).
Charles Schramm, OTR/L who works in our Certified Home Health Care Agency (CHHA) learned that UAlbany was making these shields and knew that they were a needed resource for Living Resources. He worked with his contact, Stephen Conard, Emergency Management Coordinator in the Office of Enterprise Risk Management and Compliance to obtain them for direct care personnel in our CHHA and Licensed Home Care Agency (LHCA) and Lynne Mackey, Director of Patient Services said that beyond providing an extra layer of germ protection for staff and patients, the face shields provide eye protection for the wearer. Charles says he and his coworkers “undoubtedly feel safer” now that they have this PPE in their arsenal.
Lynne also noted that these shields will be in use well beyond the current COVID-19 healthcare crisis since they can be cleaned according to CDC guidelines and re-used. Our Home Health Aides and Licensed Home Care staff will be able to use them during routine visits when they need protection from the variety of bodily fluids they are potentially exposed to in the course of performing their duties. She said these will be part of our “Best Practice” strategies for health care moving forward.
We thank Charles Schramm, Stephen Conard, the University at Albany’s CEHC and CEAS and all who volunteered to create these devices for us!
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