At The Altamont School, 10th grader Meghan Goyal, ninth grader Noah Warren and their computer science teacher have taken a high-tech approach to meet the widespread need for personal protective equipment in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both Goyal and Warren have relatives in the medical profession. Goyal’s parents, Rita and Munish, are doctors, and Warren’s mother, Emily, is a nurse anesthetist.
In late March, Goyal approached her computer science teacher, Ryan James, and Head of School Chris Durst with a proposal. Working with a prototype created by the group Bham Support, she wanted to use Altamont’s 3D printer and laser cutter to create face shields to distribute to local hospitals.
“Birmingham has such a high concentration of health care workers, and there is a shocking deficit of PPEs,” Goyal said. “I wanted to do anything that I could to keep the doctors safe because they are at high risk to get corona, and they are at risk to then transfer it to their patients – many of whom have compromised immune systems already.”
About the same time, Warren began working on a prototype that could convert full-face snorkel masks into medical-standard masks for health professionals using 3D printed adaptive pieces. He, too, reached out to James to access Altamont’s technology to execute these PPEs.
James volunteered to help both students with their projects, training them on proper use and care of machines while working with them throughout each step of their projects.
A prototype is just that – a place to start. The exact settings used to print PPEs varies by machine. A huge component of the students’ PPE creation process has been trouble shooting with James to find the right settings to print the PPEs.
Goyal, Warren and James each have been working on the project while practicing social distancing.
“This has been an Altamont community effort,” James said. “Noah received a 3D file and sent it to me on (Microsoft Teams), and I created a printable file for our 3D printer. The file was then printed on our Lulzbot 3D printer by Meghan, who arranged for the finished print to be picked up by Noah.”
After a bit of trial and error, both Goyal and Warren have successfully produced their PPEs and plan to continue producing products as long as they can.
Warren’s masks have gone to a team of nurse anesthetists at UAB Highlands. Goyal is distributing her face shields to local hospitals through Bham Support.
“I found it rewarding that we could help make CRNAs at UAB Highlands smile and know that our community cares about them,” said Warren.
“So far, the biggest reward has been seeing pictures of the doctors that I have delivered masks to wearing them,” Goyal said. “It is comforting to know that they are being protected and safe.”
