Edmonds College prototypes, manufactures face shields to meet COVID-19 needs of health care workers

Edmonds College has responded to the local health care industry’s need for personal protective equipment (PPE) by prototyping and manufacturing face shields to protect health care workers during COVID-19. 

“We are trying to do our small part to meet the urgent needs of our community and its health care workers,” said Edmonds College President Dr. Amit B. Singh. “We’ve responded rapidly and created innovative processes at both our makerspace and aerospace training center to meet this need.”

Edmonds College partnered with Kaas Tailored to manufacture more than 14,600 face shields this week at the college’s aerospace training center at Paine Field.

The college partnered with Kaas Tailored – a Mukilteo-based manufacturer of upholstered aerospace and furniture goods – to produce PPE. At Washington Aerospace Training and Research (WATR) Center, which is managed by Edmonds College, a team produced more than 14,600 plastic face shields this week. Kaas provided the plastic material, and the WATR Center team cut, cleaned, and delivered the shields. 

“Our strategy was to act as quickly as possible to help people, and it made sense to partner with our local college to maximize the impact we could make together,” said Tucker Kaas, GM Resident for Kaas Tailored.

Larry Cluphf, WATR Center’s executive director, said production went well. They fulfilled their initial contract with Kaas and will begin experimenting with a new material provided by Kaas next week. If all goes well with the new material, Cluphf said they hope to move ahead with manufacturing additional face shields.

A face shield that is being developed in the college’s The Facility Makerspace is currently undergoing informal field tests in the emergency department of Skagit Valley Hospital in Mount Vernon, Wash. and St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Wash. The ED19 Durable Face Shield is intended for frontline health care workers, such as emergency medical technicians, nurses, and doctors.

The ED19 Durable Face Shield was designed by a team at the college’s makerspace and is being piloted at two Washington state hospitals.

“With this product, we’re responding to the current crisis, but we’re also thinking beyond to reduce the impact of future pandemics,” said David Voetmann, makerspace program manager. “A significant amount of PPE is disposable and intended for single use. 

“The ED19 is designed to be repeatedly sanitized over a significantly longer lifespan. In addition to the goal of making more PPE, this strategy actually goes to the heart of the problem by, hopefully, reducing the consumption rate of PPE.” 

According to Voetmann, initial reviews have been extremely positive. Compared to existing options, the health care workers who tested the prototype reported that the ED19 is more secure and comfortable, easier to clean, fogs less, and has more room for additional PPE such as eye protection and masks underneath.

“Not only this, but based on available costs, our durable design is competitive with the existing disposable model,” Voetmann said. “In fact, 10 emergency department nurses who participated in the field test asked if they could buy their own.”

The ED19 is custom designed and sized for maximum yield when laser cut from bulk sheets of durable, clear plastic. Rather than using a secondary visor, the single sheet design provides noticeably more coverage across the forehead and is wider than standard to wrap around the temples and keep the plastic surface away from the face. Once cut, the ED19 is affixed to ready-made headgear based on off-the-shelf replacement equipment for welding helmets. 

Edmonds College also donated about 8,000 face masks to Swedish Edmonds and 2,000 masks to Providence Regional Medical Center in early April. 

Learn more about the WATR Center and The Facility Makerspace.