Nouvelles

PPE Volunteer Production Initiative -An example of Many Hands Make Light Workwith John Abbott College


Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec -June30, 2020.We can protect front line workers, we can be a part of the solution! With the daunting news reports and grim daily updates in early March, a group of volunteersin Montreal saw a unique opportunity to help, to be a part of the solution.

Within days of the provincial confinement announcement, this group of individuals organizedtheir time, resources, and expertise to create a grassroots collective of entrepreneurship: Protection Collective. Since March 25, they have been turning heads and hearts throughout the greater Montreal area while protecting those in high-risk situations that could not stay out of harms away at home.

Protection Collective is a network of ??oedoers” producing components and assembling PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for Open Source Face Shieldsto stave off the possibility of frontline workers running short of the essential safety of a face shield.

This merry band of contributors consists of ??oeMontreal [area] makers, students, healthcare workers and small business owners,” as stated on www.protectioncollective.ca.The beauty of this initiative is that people are located all over the greater Montreal area, doing what they can.

John Abbott College is very well represented with three members of the Engineering Technology department: Mark Ewanchyna (Chair), Evgeni Kiriyi (teacher), and Nicolino Sanza (technician), along with Stephen Johnsfrom the Abbott Centre for Continuing Education. With seven 3D printers running 24/7 at the College, and more being produced at their homes, they print the headband and bottom reinforcements for the visor (seen in the attached pictures).

The components are brought to MDA, manufacturer of satellites and the Canadarm on the International Space Station, where the face shields are assembled, disinfected and packaged in the MDA specialized clean room, ready for distribution.

How many face shields have been produced since March 25, 2020? 2,958 and counting.
Where have they helped?

Health care professionals, community workers, and to these institutions:
• Jewish General Hospital  CIUSSS Centre Ouest
• Hôpital Charles-Le Moyne  Hôpital Jean-Talon
• Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur  Head & Hands / À Deux Mains
• Hôpital de Verdun   CHSLD Angus
• Lakeshore General Hospital  Le Neuro
• HôpitalLasalle   STTIC-CSN

Want to help?
Protection Collective is urging everyone with access to a 3D printer, or to rapid prototyping ressources, or simply with a will to help manufacture free PPE for healthcare workers to reach out to them.info@protectioncollective.ca
Many pictures are available at https://www.protectioncollective.ca/home/

About John Abbott College
John Abbott College is a public Anglophone college serving students since 1971. Today, the increasingly diverse student body includes more than 6500 fulltime day students and an additional 2000 continuing education students. John Abbott is situated on the western tip of the Island of Montreal.
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For information:
Debbie Cribb
Communications and Media Relations Officer
514-457-6610 ext. 5354
debbie.cribb@johnabbott.qc.ca