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The Maricopa Community College Healthcare Education Department in collaboration with the Maricopa Community Colleges Foundation have been working with several of our colleges to use 3D printers to manufacture and donate personal protective equipment for healthcare providers and first responders.
Our faculty, staff and students are using their skills, classroom equipment and supplies to help the community and the Greatest Needs Fund makes this possible.
Production has already begun!
- Estrella Mountain Community College is using five 3D printers to mass produce ear guards to help protect against the irritation of wearing face masks for hours a day. Their goal is to produce 1,500 in the next two weeks and up to 1000 per week after that. The team is working to deliver these guards to many of the local healthcare organizations including hospitals, hospice facilities, and first responders.
- Glendale Community College’s CAD Department has begun production of face shields. GCC has one 3D printer and is producing face shields over the next several weeks to be donated to the Southwest Kidney Institute and other local first responders.
- Paradise Valley Community College has begun production of face shields in support of ASU’s PPE Response Network. They are utilizing five 3D printers and expect to produce at least 50 shields a week. Engineering students are working remotely on design/programming requirements and the PVCC Help Desk/Computer commons staff and student workers are monitoring the printers and assembling the final products.
- South Mountain Community College has two 3D printers to produce safety face shields. Their engineering faculty is producing these shields for campus Public Safety officers and has donated many to the police department.
In addition to 3D printing, other colleges have utilized their resources in support of frontline workers:
- Chandler-Gilbert Community College in partnership with Mesa Community College, distributed laptops to many students. Additionally, faculty and staff are supporting a local food bank which partners with the the college’s Food Pantry as food security needs have grown during the pandemic.
- GateWay Community College’s Respiratory Care program recently launched into action to loan Chandler Regional Medical Center six ventilators and two test lungs. Their Respiratory Care, Industrial Technology, Physical Therapist Assisting, Medical Radiology, Occupational Therapy Assisting, Skill Centers and Nursing programs pitched in to donate equipment and supplies to various organizations including PPE kits, gloves, gowns, N95 masks, hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.
- Mesa Community College is proud of its role as a partner in the community and has donated medical protective gear to Banner Baywood and Phoenix Children’s Hospital to help health care workers on the frontlines, many of whom are former MCC Thunderbirds.
- Scottsdale Community College’s nursing faculty has donated essential supplies such as gowns, face masks, hand sanitizer and gloves to Honor Health Osborn. Many of the faculty are working on the frontlines at hospitals, helping patients in Intensive Care Units and emergency rooms. Additionally, SCC I.T. professionals updated and prepared laptops, packaged them in SCC backpacks with mouse pads and charging cables, to loan to students transitioning to remote learning. The laptops were distributed to students, directly to their vehicles, in accordance with social distancing guidelines.
Your contribution to the Greatest Needs Fund supports the amazing commitment of Maricopa Community College faculty, staff and students for this effort and other critical need programs as they arise. It allows the Foundation and our colleges the chance to address gaps due to a lack of resources across a broad range of circumstances.
Today’s rapidly changing environment requires Maricopa Community College faculty and staff to help in new and exciting ways and they’re coming out in force!
Thank you to those who have already contributed to our students in need. The Greatest Needs Fund provides another opportunity to provide immediate and flexible funding for urgent needs, support programs and initiatives that can benefit all ten of the Maricopa Community Colleges and the surrounding communities.
[button link=”https://mcccdf.org/greatestneeds/” type=”icon” color=”silver” newwindow=”yes”] DONATE TO THE GREATEST NEEDS FUND[/button]
