UMASS SHIELDS AGAINST VIRUS

Works with company on cheap face guards

A partnership between UMass Amherst and a Southbridge manufacturer is poised to turn out 80,000 new face shields to protect health care professionals as they confront the anticipated surge in coronavirus cases across the state.

Peter Reinhart, the founding director of the Institute for Applied Life Sciences at UMass Amherst, said the easy-to-produce face shield and simple design should effectively increase the life span of other personal protective gear.

“We already have inquiries from a number of other organizations throughout the state asking us for our design files,” Reinhart told the Herald Monday. “I had requests ranging from India to Italy, asking for our design files so they can produce them in regions where they do have this type of manufacturing capacity but haven’t actually utilized it or produced face masks.”

Southbridge-based K+K Thermoforming is producing the first order of 80,000 shields which will be distributed to medical facilities and other front-line responders in the region. The company will continue production based on demand.

UMass contributed more than $30,000 for the initial order and provided volunteer hours from staff who helped design, test and manufacture the shields which are made from a single, flexible sheet of plastic film and can be shipped flat.

Brad Picard, principal design engineer at K+K, said his company is hoping to have the first shipment out by the end of this week.

“Our company is designed to transfer plastic into thermo-formed medical packaging,” Picard said. “We were already suited to produce the design that they provided. We just needed to make some tweaks,” he said.

The face shields were developed in cooperation with nurses who said they should be comfortable and include employer identification, according to information from UMass. The shields are recommended for single-use, but can be sterilized, Reinhart said.

Reinhart said the team has been especially motivated to work on the face shields as Massachusetts faces a shortage of personal protective equipment, including among first responders ahead of the anticipated surge in coronavirus cases locally and across the country.

“We’re trying to take care of our neighbors and that resonates with everyone,” Reinhart said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UMASS AMHERST QUICK AND EASY: UMass Amherst engineering Professor Meghan Huber holds up and models a face shield designed by the university set for distribution to regional health care responders as early as the end of this week.