Greenhouse commits to contribute another 2,500 and encourages other local businesses to fulfill the county’s need for 130,000 additional face shields.
Marana, Ariz. – Bayer employees at its Marana greenhouse site, in collaboration with Tucson-based Triangle Industrial Corporation, will donate 4,500 face shields to health care workers and first responders in Pima County. The first delivery of 2,000 face shields, which help protect against exposure to the coronavirus, were delivered to Terry Nordbrock, leading the Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) donation effort with the Pima County Health Department.
“Donations can make the difference in a nurse having PPE and not, and businesses like Bayer have provided critical PPE in a time of need,” said Spencer Graves, logistics section chief for the Pima County Health Department. “Our communities and companies have helped fill the gap of the supply system, but we continue to need items like face shields and cloth masks.”
“The Bayer Marana team is proud to support our community’s healthcare heroes,” said Matt Lingard, Marana Greenhouse Lead. “COVID-19 touches all of us and so it’s more important now than ever that we come together and directly support efforts to overcome the far-reaching effects of this disease.”
Bayer provided the headbands for the masks which were affixed to the face shields that were cut at Triangle Industrial’s fabrication/machining shop. Triangle employee John Brumfield donated his time to run the cutting machine, producing the clear face shields attached to the headbands. Bayer Automation Engineer Ryan Tellor led efforts to secure materials for the face shields as well as the Marana site’s partnership with Triangle Industrial.
Bayer’s Technical Discovery Center in Chesterfield, Missouri, realized the bottleneck which 3D printing posed to large volume production. The center’s team of designers, fabricators, and engineers shifted focus to injection molding in order to produce the much-needed face shields for Tucson’s medical professionals.
“When we saw Pima County was seeking 130,000 face shields to protect staff, we not only wanted to donate the equipment, but we also hope our efforts would inspire other local businesses to fill this urgent need by doing the same,” Lingard added.
Earlier this month the Pima County Health Department put out an online call for people with 3D printers and automated laser cutters to fabricate face shields. The face shields will be distributed to the county’s health-care partners, which includes local hospitals and first responders, based on individual need. Face masks and other protective equipment used by medical and emergency personnel in the coronavirus fight are currently in short supply throughout the United States.