To help those on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic, College of the Canyons MakerSpace donated 150 face shields to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital on Tuesday.
MakerSpace, which provides students with a multidisciplinary education that enables them to design and create manufactured works through engineering and technologies, used six of its 3D printing machines to develop the face coverings, which took just more than three hours each to produce, according to a COC news release.
“Our MakerSpace is a place for innovation and ingenuity,” College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook said in a statement. “It was a privilege for the college to harness the creativity, focus and energy to support our local hospital, which is a strong partner of College of the Canyons and has been the employer of choice for so many of our nursing graduates.”
“An essential component of personal protective equipment for health care professionals treating COVID-19 cases, face shields have become scarce in light of high demand,” read the release, which added that the materials to create the masks were funded through regional sources, such as the institution’s Center for Applied Technologies.
“We are very grateful to College of the Canyons for these face shields. In today’s environment, it’s impossible to have too much PPE. Our entire staff, and especially our front-line health care workers, deeply appreciate COC’s resourcefulness and generosity,” Marlee Lauffer, president of the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Foundation, said in a prepared statement.
MakerSpace, which has facilities on both of the college’s campuses, opened in May 2016.
The donation of PPEs follows several more donations sent to Henry Mayo from local businesses, nonprofit organizations and the city of Santa Clarita.
