Bucknell Engineers Create PPE for Local Hospitals

While the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) is an urgent global issue, efforts like Bucknell's could be especially important for smaller local and regional health systems that don't have the supply chains or purchasing power of larger systems, says Professor Nate Siegel, mechanical engineering, one of the faculty members leading the face shield project.

"They need designs that people can make locally," Siegel says.

One of those smaller providers is the St. Luke's hospital in Xander Karpowicz '22's hometown of Lehighton, Pa. Karpowicz, a mechanical engineering major, plans to make forehead plates with 3D printers borrowed from a local high school and to donate them to St. Luke's, which already has a supply of shields.

"We've been working with St. Luke's to try to make maybe a few hundred masks," Karpowicz says. "It's not really on the scale of some of the other projects, but it's enough that it could make a real difference."

Even simple efforts can go a long way to protect doctors and nurses, group members say. The intubation tent that Professor Brandon Vogel, chemical engineering, is developing with input from Professor Eric Kennedy, biomedical engineering, consists of little more than a sheet draped over a frame, but it could help some of the most at-risk caregivers.

When a patient with COVID-19 is placed on a respirator, they must be intubated, meaning a tube is placed in their airway to keep it clear. To do this, the clinician must get very close to the patient, who is likely to cough or gag during the procedure and spread aerosols containing the virus. Vogel's tent will cover the patient's head during the procedure, while the provider slides their hands underneath and uses a camera to perform the intubation.

Mass-produced reusable masks, the group believes, could play a critical role in addressing shortages locally and globally, although ultimately, they hope the production phase of all of their projects will be short-lived. Ideally, a local manufacturer that's better equipped for mass production will take on fabrication duties. Until then, Bucknell's engineers will be there to help.

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