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Above and Beyond Shepherd University faculty design a better, faster mask. We can aim for good enough, fast enough— or we can aim for better, faster. That’s what Shepherd University’s Kay Dartt and Chase Molden did when they sought a method for mass-producing N95 masks. The university’s FASTEnER lab—that’s short for Fine Arts, Science, Technology, Engineering, Educational Resource—started out in late March 3D printing face shields for medical providers. Kay, the university’s
DEB HARTSHORN W ELIZABETH, WIRT COUNTY A Wirt County Volunteer Steps Way Up The Hope Shop is going strong. beverly cheuvront is the volunteermanager for the hope shop of Wirt County, a faith-based organization designed to provide food, clothing, and other products to those in Wirt County who are in need. The Hope Shop includes both a thrift shop and a food bank. Beverly usually manages the thrift business and fundraising for the food bank, while others manage the food bank. However, during this crisis, Beverly took on both roles and has ensured services are still available to the community. She works tirelessly as a volunteer to offer an organized and stocked facility for the community. Most recently, food arrived by semis. It was unloaded, arranged, and manned by volunteers and members of the recovery team as Beverly worked alongside to unload, make the public aware via Facebook, and distribute. The thrift shop is closed during the pandemic. However, she set up a makeshift
3D fabrication manager, created prototypes and searched within and beyond the university to borrow additional 3D printers, and others joined in for final production steps, sterilization, and other tasks. The lab soon began working with the West Virginia National Guard on an N95 mask that could be made on a 3D printer. But it took 5 hours to print one. So Chase, the university theater’s technical director, joined in, and the two created molds that allowed for production of 70 and more masks per hour. The masks that resulted exceed federal standards and can be produced by workers who have no specialized equipment or skills. In mid-April, Kay and Chase trained the National Guard’s 167th Airlift Wing Airmen how to use their molds to make masks.
non-contact shopping experience from the front porch of the Hope Shop for those who are in most need and do not have the option of traveling outside the area. She makes herself available for emergency food needs and also receives donations for the thrift shop, lugs heavy items, processes donations, and gets them ready to sell. Beverly is a young widow, the single mother of two teenagers, and a small business owner who has also been impacted by the shut-down of her business in Spencer. She is managing to “home school” during the pandemic and still source and stock her small business, all the while spending countless hours to ensure the most at-risk individuals of Wirt County have available resources.
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