UVic, Community, Coast Capital come together to meet demand for face shields for frontline health workers

Coast Capital Savings has donated $10,000 to support a UVic initiative to meet the increasing demand for face shields for front line workers. In addition, numerous organizations and individuals have donated their time, equipment and materials.

“At a time when there is a need to come together like never before, it is heartwarming to see the ingenuity and creativity such as what we’re seeing from our partners at UVic,” said Maureen Young, director of Community Leadership at Coast Capital Savings. “Coast Capital Savings is humbled to be a small part of helping our frontline health workers as they do the most important work there is at this unprecedented moment in time.”

“We all know that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a worldwide shortage of disposable face masks,” said Stephanie Willerth, who leads the initiative and is director of UVic’s Biomedical Engineering Program. “So being able to use resources and production capacity from within the local community to produce face shields for our healthcare workers is really important.”

The transparent shield—which must also be made to exact specifications—is being laser cut by Foreman CNC Machining, a company in Sidney owned by UVic alumnus Chris Foreman. Some of the elasticized straps, which keep the shields in place, have been donated by community partners on Salt Spring Island. Several other UVic alumni are also involved in the initiative.

Willerth’s team is almost ready to deliver its first batch of face shields to Island Health—the first of 4,000 that will be provided at no cost to the health authority in the coming weeks.

Read the full story: https://www.uvic.ca/news/topics/2020+news-face-shield+news