M4 Corona Combatants #2: InWorks at University of Colorado and Make4Covid. Makers coordinating against Covid

This is a very special edition of the M4Edge podcast, and a part of our Corona Combatants series: we speak with a team of people who are striving to leverage 3D printing resources to quickly supply hospitals and care centers with some of the equipment they need to handle the covid-19 emergency.

Our guests are all affiliated with the University of Colorado Denver, and the Anschutz Medical Center through a novel project called Inworks, which as one of our guests says, is like a maker space on steroids. Inworks seeks to create innovative solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems, and so stepping up for Covid response was what they were made for. And they are really stepping up the challenge.

Their efforts are currently focused on Personal Protective Equipment, or PPE. This is — in the definition of the Food and Drug Administration, protective clothing, helmets, gloves, face shields, goggles, face masks and/or respirators or other equipment designed to protect the wearer from injury or the spread of infection or illness.

In the fight against the covid-19 virus, health care workers are a crucial resource, and protecting them from contagion is a top priority. As the number of covid cases rises, some hospitals have already been running short of some personal protective equipment.

Everyone who can, should try to help. Some automakers have switched their production to ventilators, in coordination with the FDA.

As our guests explain, 3D printing has two characteristics that can help address this challenge: its speed and its distributed nature. Using 3D printing and an open source design approach can allow us to quickly develop important pieces of equipment—in this case, face shields. And leveraging the distributed nature of the 3D printing market community across the country can allow us to produce at scale and close to the health care providers in need.

This podcast is also a call to arms: our guests will emphasize the need for makers, fabricators, designers, engineers and health care experts to join the effort, and explain one way of coming to help. Coordination is crucial, to learn from each other, to diffuse best practices, but also to make sure that help reaches hospitals in the most efficient way possible. Our guests have helped to launch an online platform, make4covid.co  to facilitate this effort. 

Neither one of us is a health expert; our guests are not medical experts either, and they will underscore the importance of coordinating with the regulators and following all the FDA’s prescriptions and guidelines. Theirs is one spontaneous effort, and others are doubtlessly sprouting elsewhere around the country.

In a situation that requires to have all hands on deck, we thought it would be valuable to show how 3D printing and the maker community have quickly jumped in to help, and to publicize this effort so that others can join in or reach out to our guests to exchange insights, share advice and help each other help our health care system.

So this is an episode you really should share, and quickly, because it might help. If you are someone who could help, get in touch.

Stay curious, stay safe and stay healthy, everyone.