Coronavirus New Jersey: Group Of High School Robotics Teams Band Together To Provide Face Shields To Jefferson Health
CHERRY HILL, N.J. (CBS) -- As the coronavirus spreads the need for personal protective equipment continues. New Jersey has the second most cases of COVID-19 in the United States, so in order to help, a group of high school robotics teams decided to band together.
Face shields, printed and prepped by the joint efforts of a group of high school robotics teams, are arriving at New Jersey Jefferson Hospital locations just in time.
"So the residents were in need of face shields and here they were sitting in front of us and being donated so the timing was great," said Dr. Roy Sandau, Chief of Surgery at Jefferson Health New Jersey.
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Sandau says he was overly excited about the donation.
The teams from Moorestown, Seneca, Lenape, Cherokee, and Bishop Eustace High Schools are now refocusing their efforts to come together to put their own print on the coronavirus pandemic.
"We're seeing the shortage, how the coronavirus is affecting all of our hospitals and as an FRC team, we are always looking for ways to help out the community," student Emily Tsai said.
The students are making a Swedish model shield called the Verkstan -- stackable shields that are more efficient in the printing process and quicker to get to health care workers.
"My son was able to take the code and slice it," FRC Against COVID-19 Co-Founder Maria Blatcher said. "Now, we can print a stack of 37 so essentially have our printers running 24/7."
They've made just over 1,000 shields so far, but they need help to make more. They say they need more 3D printing capacity, more resources to make the $1 shields.
"If anybody in the community has a printer and wants to join us, we have informational videos on our website to get them going," Blatcher said.
"If we can save one person's life or prevent more cases from spreading, it's all worth it," Tsai said.
For more information on how to help FRC Against COVID-19, click here.
