Health care workers at Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center display their face shields, courtesy of Shield Athens. Former Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School media specialist Deirdre Sugiuchi co-founded Shield Athens to provide personal protective equipment to medical workers in need amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re producing face shields, which are plastic shields which protect people’s faces from spatters and sprays because they cover all orifices,” Sugiuchi said. “You can’t wear it by itself — you have to have a mask on up underneath it, but it’s another protective layer.” Photo courtesy of Deirdre Sugiuchi
In the face of COVID-19, many Athenians are working to create personal protective equipment for medical workers in the community.
Many members of the Athens-Clarke County community are leading efforts to create face coverings to combat shortages of personal protective equipment amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
Former Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School Media Specialist Deirdre Sugiuchi cofounded Shield Athens with her husband, Chase Street Elementary School STEM teacher Chris Sugiuchi, to assemble face shields for medical workers.
“Athens frontline medical workers do not have the equipment that they need, and so what we’re trying to do with Shield Athens is fill the gap,” Sugiuchi said. “I knew the pandemic was coming, but I never knew it would be handled this badly, I never knew that our health care workers would be on the front line without necessary equipment, and so I never imagined that my husband and I, with the help of awesome Athenians, would have to take care of our healthcare workers.”
Clarke Central High School engineering, robotics and computer science teacher Gabe Wilfong has been assisting with the face shields by creating parts using 3D printers.
Two people sit at a table and work on making face shields for medical workers. Clarke Central High School engineering, robotics and computer science teacher Gabe Wilfong has been helping to make face shields using 3D printers. “There’s this worldwide community of people (who) have a 3D printer. So part of the response from those types of people for this pandemic response was trying to figure out how we can make these medical supplies or personal protective equipment (and) how can we help augment the shortfall of all the supplies that they’re seeing, Wilfong said. “So there’s various different designs for face shields that have been floating around. (Chase Street Elementary School STEM teacher Chris Sugiuchi) found one that he liked and he’d been printing it, so I jumped on board (to help).” Photo courtesy of Deirdre Sugiuchi
“The face shield has four parts. There’s an elastic headband, like a strap, there’s a clear face shield, and then there’s two 3D printed parts: there’s a rigid headband that goes over the front of your forehead, and then there’s this bottom chin piece that goes on the bottom part of the clear plastic part to help give it a good curvature,” Wilfong said. “I have two printers at home, and I’ve been cranking out parts as fast as I can.”
CCHS Red Cross Club co-founder Evelyn Moser, a junior, has been assembling sewing kits to allow volunteers to create cloth face masks.
“Using (Red Cross Club) fundraising money, I bought supplies for more than 90 masks and (those supplies) are now delivered to Red Cross members and friends so they can construct (the masks),” Moser said. “Then I will pick them up and deliver them to the local hospitals. So far, (the masks are going to) Piedmont Athens Regional (Medical Center), but we may also be making them for the homeless shelters around Athens.”
Sugiuchi encourages members of the Athens-Clarke County community to assist in the COVID-19 pandemic in any way they can.
“Go to shieldathens.net, there’s info there. Donate your voice, donate your time, if you have money, donate it.” Sugiuchi said. “If you want to not feel helpless in this crisis, which I know a lot of people do, go out and do something, because you really will feel better. It really does help.”
“If you want to not feel helpless in this crisis, which I know a lot of people do, go out and do something, because you really will feel better.”
— Deirdre Sugiuchi,
Former Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary School media specialist
