3D printers make face shields for virus fight
SUNY New Paltz has used its 3D printers to produce 1,000 face shields that have been distributed to local health care workers, Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan said Tuesday.
Ryan toured the Hudson Valley Additive Manufacturing Center at SUNY New Paltz, where the college and county have partnered to use the 3D printers to produce the shields for medical providers and others on the front lines of responding to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a press release from the executive’s office.
The shields have been donated to health care facilities and medical personnel at Ulster County’s mobile testing sites, Ryan’s office said. It said the New Paltz facility has the capacity to produce 500 face shields each day once it fully ramps up.
“I’m so proud of how our entire community has stepped up, and this project exemplifies the resilience that will get us through this crisis,” Ryan said in a prepared statement. “Seeing the looming shortage of PPE (personal protective equipment), I put out an urgent call for innovative locally sourced solutions. I can’t thank SUNY New Paltz enough for answering that call.”
Ryan’s office said the face shield initiative has received support from numerous local businesses, school districts, libraries and universities, including Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Polytechnic Institute and SUNY Ulster.
The executive’s office said IBM is providing engineering and design work, while the NoVo Foundation and Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. are proving the funding for all manufacturing costs.
“All the staff at the Hudson Valley Additive Manufacturing Center are very pleased to be able to work with Ulster County to fabricate and distribute face shields to the medical staff and first responders who are the real heroes in this situation,” Dan Freedman, director of the center, said in a prepared statement.
John Acocella, vice president of Enterprise Systems and Technology Development for IBM, said the company is using its resources in the Hudson Valley and beyond to support the community, health care providers and Ulster County’s government.
“We have tremendous expertise in manufacturing and computer hardware and software development and are working at full speed to help because every moment counts,” Acocella said in a statement.
As of noon Tuesday, Ulster County reported 215 confirmed cases of the coronavirus. There has been one death of a coronavirus patient in the county.
Ulster County has two mobile testing sites for the virus. One is at TechCity in the town of Ulster; the second, which opened Monday, is at Ellenville Regional Hospital.
Ulster County is providing coronavirus online at ulstercountyny.gov/coronavirus and through its hotline, (845) 443-8888.