VICTORIA -- When the COVID-19 pandemic began, one thing became very clear within our hospitals, there is a shortage of personal protective equipment (P.P.E.) in the system.
Since then, the private industry, individuals and post-secondary institutions have overwhelmingly answered the call for help.
On Wednesday, over 2,000 protective face shields rolled out to frontline health-care workers in hospitals up and down Vancouver Island.
“We were getting signals in the marketplace that the supply chain would be stretched,” said James Hanson, vice president, operation and support, at Island Health.
“Today, they are going into the system as we speak.”
The protective face shields are designed and produced at Camosun College and the University of Victoria. They are being rolled out to the frontline health workers after a global shortage.
“From concept to actually beginning to manufacture, it only took about 10 days,” said Matt Zeleny, applied research technologist at Camosun College. “Previously, my fastest time getting a product to manufacturing was six weeks.”
Unlike previous medical face shields, these masks are reusable.
“I think moving away from non-reusable products, specifically eye protection, to fully reusable and wipeable products will be the future of P.P.E.,” said Hanson.
The face shield design is open source, meaning anyone can access it for their own use.
Companies from across Canada, the United States and even overseas have begun using Camosun’s design.
“We had an organization in the U.K. contact us very early on and they are now using the shield design there as well,” said Richard Gale, director of Camosun Innovates.
Camosun has also just sent Aurora College in the North West Territories some raw plastic. There, Aurora College will be working with manufacturers to produce masks.
“There is a demand for some local production,” said Matthew Dares, manager of technology development at Aurora College. “Especially for those non-hospital related roles, like fire, police and the mining industry.”
It’s safe to say, it’s a design that is having a global impact on the fight against COVID-19.
If you would like to donate to support Island Health during this COVID-19 pandemic, you can visit Island Health's website here to find out how.
