Answering the Call for PPE
Answering the Call for PPE
October 20, 1920When COVID-19 forced campus to shut down in March, faculty, staff, students and academic units across the community sprang into action to provide personal protective equipment to frontline health workers.
To date, MSU has distributed 12,336 face shield and mask combinations and nearly 1,000 visor attachments through the Food Processing and Innovation Center. The personal protective equipment has been delivered to many health care and agricultural groups throughout Michigan.
“This really shows that collaboration is not limited at all to research,” said Nathan Tykocki, assistant professor of pharmacology and toxicology in the College of Osteopathic Medicine, who started producing 3D masks in March. “It expands to every aspect of the university and the willingness of people to work together to help when it’s needed.
Tykocki was inspired to create masks after the state’s Office of Environmental Health and Safety sent out an urgent request to bring together any and all personal protective equipment supplies that were unused in MSU labs to help out local hospitals.
Organizations that have received personal protective equipment from MSU include Sparrow Health Systems, Providence Hospital, Hurley Medical Center, Bronson Hospital, Michigan Dental Association, Kent Quality Foods, Michigan Turkey Producers, Michigan Farm Bureau, Peterson Farms, DeRuiter Farms, Smeltzer Orchards and River Ridge Farms.
Contributing Writer(s): Zach Richardson
