COVID-19 continues to spread across Iowa and several organizations and businesses are stepping up to help in the effort to prevent further spread of the virus.

The Greene County School District recently made several face shields and donated them to the Greene County Medical Center. Director of Technology Brent Gerzema says the venture started with a request from a School Board member and retired physician Dr. Steve Karber when he reached out to the Greene County Medical Center. He says a 3D printer was used to manufacture headbands and an 8.5-inch by 11-inch transparency was attached to it to act as a face shield. He says he found a template on how to make the equipment and made some modifications with the 3D printer.

“(I) Was able to use that to create the visors that we were able to put the transparencies in front of to act as a barrier for those individuals that want to use them. And then just a little piece of elastic or almost like a tie that they could use to secure to their heads.”  

Gerzema points out the process takes about two hours to complete one face shield. He adds, they donated about 55 of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) items to the Greene County Medical Center. Gerzema tells Raccoon Valley Radio he never thought he would use a 3D printer to make face shields during a pandemic.

“But that’s the beauty of technology and things like this. The versatility of it is unmatched, I guess you would say.”

The medical center also received about 1,500 face shield donations from John Deere in Paton.