District 203 Teacher Making Face Shields
One District 203 teacher is spending his time at home during the coronavirus outbreak helping our local healthcare workers.
Josh Stumpenhorst, Credit: Facebook
Josh Stumpenhorst, the learning commons director at Lincoln Junior High School, has been busy the last four days making face shields using two 3D printers.
“I have friends that are nurses and doctors. I have a mother-in-law who’s a nurse in the area and they don’t have face shields at all. And I thought this was a no brainer,” said Stumpenhorst.
Using 3D Printers
He was inspired to get to work after reading an article about the situation in Italy.
“They were running low on respirators and there were folks that were 3D printing valves and different components and I thought ‘well that’s really cool. If things get bad in the U.S. I wonder if that’s something we would need,’” said Stumpenhorst.
With requests from local hospitals for personal protective equipment (PPE) donations he decided it was time to act so he reached out to an old friend in Minneapolis who has been 3D printing face shields with his wife. A Naperville North teacher, Geoff Schmit, then stepped in to help and they found an easy design approved by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on their website.
Stumpenhorst prints the visors in his basement, then attaches them to the shield. It takes around an hour and a half to assemble each one.
The printers were a loan from the district, but the plastic and other materials are paid for out of his own pocket or through donations from the community.
Delivering to Edward-Elmhurst Health
So far he has 100 face shields nearly ready to be delivered to Edward-Elmhurst Health; he’s just waiting on the shipment of elastic that’s been running a bit late to finish them off.
The plan is to make a total of 250, but he might not stop there.
“When we get to that point, if the need is still there we’re going to keep going,” said Stumpenhorst. “We’re not going to stop until I’m out of plastic and they don’t need them anymore.”
If you would like to help with this effort, you can send a message to Stumpenhorst through Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
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Photo Credit: Josh Stumpenhorst Instagram
