A Crash Course in Protective Equipment

Sponge Bob Square Pants would be in danger today because of the COVID-19 virus. Not because the virus would kill him, but the new demand sponge foam would strip his cartoon identity, as would the shortage of elastic that holds up his underpants.The high demand for making personal protection equipment (PPE) is depleting elastic, sponge or foam, and clear plastic around the globe.

The PPE shortage has inspired community innovation. CrashSpace is a collection of volunteer hackers, programmers, builders, makers, artists and people who generally like to break things and see what new things they can build with the pieces. The group of innovators hit the ground running to provide solutions to meet the shortfall in hospital PPE gear.

The non-profit collaborative research organization is located in Culver City. They embrace people who are interested in a variety of topics ranging from art, technology, and electronics. “We find new things that can be built from parts.” Steve Goldstein, a CrashSpace volunteer and Santa Monica College (SMC) graduate with 22 patents to his name, said.

A clear plastic face shield or visor is essential PPE for a medical worker attending an infected patient, according to Jerrod Jones, R.N., serving at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center . The shields cover the entire face. It protects against contagious splatter when the patient sneezes, coughs, or projects fluids. A basic shield has a plastic visor clip that fastens to the skull like an eyeglass frame made from an on-site 3-D printer, an elastic headband to hold the device firmly to the head, foam for cushioning between the forehead, and the clear visor.

There is a search for PPE materials as the pandemic ravages the country with elastic typically being used for underwear, foam for weather stripping, and plastic for notebook covers. "The demand for the essential materials— elastic, foam, and clear plastic — is depleting supply from traditional manufacturing sources," Goldstein said.

Contagious COVID-19 patients are growing with hospital intensive care units especially in major cities like New York and Los Angeles. There is life-saving PPE for frontline workers— physicians, nurses, and hands-on intensive care staff. Medical workers risk infection without adequate eye and face protection according to Ben Sax, CrashSpace volunteer who supervises the design to hospital specifications in producing the face shields.

CrashSpace organized a PPE assembly operation at Covenant Presbyterian in Westchester, Los Angeles. A series of tables are set up to assemble components with social-distanced community volunteers in a wide open, well-ventilated work space. Rigid precautions are required before helping out. The volunteer’s temperature is taken, hand sanitizer used, face mask, face shield, and gloves worn.

CrashSpace locates scarce basic materials. “We look under every rock to see who still has the product. Grab it before someone else does,” Goldstein said. The mix of assembled components are built-to-design as specified by the medical centers, fast enough that face shields are shipped at the rate of 150-200 face shields a day. CrashSpace’s PPE is being shipped to Cedars-Sinai and University of Southern California-Keck medical centers.

Student volunteers may serve this hands-on effort by contacting CrashSpace.org

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