Virginia Tech seeks community help to 3D-print face shields

By Henri Gendreau henri.gendreau@roanoke.com 540-381-1679 10 hrs ago

Got a 3D printer? ... Virginia Tech is asking community members who own or have access to the machines to help the university manufacture face shields for medical staff and first responders.

It’s one part of a larger Tech effort to produce personal protective equipment, or PPE, to help stave off the spread of COVID-19.

More than 75 researchers, students and university staff came together in recent weeks to embark on 10 projects that revolve around PPE and other medical equipment. Groups are creating face shields, masks and adapters that hospitals can use to convert machines often used to treat sleep apnea into makeshift ventilators.

On Thursday, Tech put a call out for anyone with access to 3D printers to print headpieces for the shields, which will be sent to hospitals in the Roanoke and New River Valleys, as well as to local firefighters and law enforcement officers.

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So far, the team has distributed hundreds of face shields, including to LewisGale Hospital in Montgomery County and Carilion New River Valley Medical Center.

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