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As they brace for a surge in coronavirus patients, Bay Area hospitals are turning to Silicon Valley in a bid to stock up on badly needed protective gear for doctors and nurses.
The nonprofit Maker Nexus in Sunnyvale was abuzz on Wednesday, as a laser cutter spit out sheets of plastic and a row of 3D printers spun colorful spools of material into adjustable straps.
A cadre of tech-savvy volunteers has been churning out thousands of face shields for doctors and nurses on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to a plea for help from area hospitals and foundations.
And they are not alone. Across the country, “maker spaces” have transformed into mini factories, sending shields, masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) to nearby hospitals.
Eric Hess, general manager of Maker Nexus, said it represented “one of the most tremendous mobilizations” of makers he’s seen in his life.
It’s not just makers in the area offering to help. Bloom Energy, the San Jose-based green energy company, has refurbished a stockpile of broken ventilators sent by the federal government and sent them to Los Angeles, an area hit hard by the deadly virus. HP and IBM have donated masks and Lumileds, a lighting company, has contributed more than 1,000 respirators.
“The tech community has risen to meet this crisis together, donating critically needed resources to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, said in a statement.
Already, Maker Nexus has been inundated with 13,000 requests for its face shields, Hess said. But even with about 300 people volunteering their help, and in some cases the use of their 3D printers at home, the nonprofit can only produce between 500-1,000 shields a day at the moment.
“The scope of the problem was way bigger than we could handle ourselves,” Hess said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has rushed to bring supplies to the state, saying California needs an eye-popping billion gloves, hundreds of millions of masks and gowns, and thousands of ventilators, even turning to Tesla CEO Elon Musk for help producing more of the breathing devices. But nurses across the Bay Area are staging protests, saying they lack enough protective gear and accusing hospitals of being ill-prepared to respond the crisis.
On Wednesday, engineer and 3D printing hobbyist Bill Wang pulled up to deliver a box of dozens of the adjustable straps that go into the shields that he’d manufactured at home. His friend is a nurse, Wang said, and didn’t have access to a shield. He wanted to do something and saw a Facebook post calling for volunteers.
“Every little thing helps,” the Union City resident, who was on his way to bring groceries to his parents nearby, said. “I think these guys are great.”
Sanjay Kurani, medical director at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, agreed.
The shields, he said, help protect doctors and nurses from disease-carrying droplets while they’re treating patients who may have the coronavirus, and crucially, can be easily disinfected and reused. Each patient, he said, can require medical workers to use up to 15 sets of PPE.
While the hospital is still doing OK on supplies, he said, “what we want is a good stockpile in case we get into a surge situation.”
Getting supplies through normal avenues, Kurani said, has been difficult, so Silicon Valley has provided a lifeline — one that he hopes will continue into the future.
“This could be a potential brand new supply chain for us,” he said. “It’s a great symbiotic relationship.”
He thanked the nonprofit and volunteers for stepping forward, and said their collaborative effort in the face of the virus was boosting morale among nurses and doctors on the front lines.
“What is driving a lot of the fear is the uncertainty,” Kurani said. “We’re not going to beat a disease through fear.”
Already, Hess said, Maker Nexus is looking at what other needs they can help fulfill, from respirators to masks.
“You have a huge wealth of talent here,” he said.
Michael Elliott, chief operating officer of Valley Medical Center Foundation, echoed the doctor, calling the work “a huge testament to that spirit” of innovation in Silicon Valley.
“This is a crisis we will get through together,” Elliott said. “It’s an incredible community-wide effort.”
