Boise State University and Gorongosa National Park have been working together to support Mozambique's wildlife for years. Now, in the midst of the pandemic, the university is strengthening the park in a different way: through face shields.
Boise State was able to provide the national park with 200 face shields to help those fighting the coronavirus in Mozambique.
When COVID-19 began to spread, the university began making face shields for local healthcare workers using 3D printers at a lab in the campus’s Albertsons Library.
Amy Vecchione runs that lab. She said they started testing different versions of shields with local health care workers, but some didn’t meet sanitation standards.
"If they couldn't clean them with the facilities that they had, they couldn't use them," Vecchione said. "And so we were left with a little bit of an extra surplus, wondering what to do.”
That’s when the Gorongosa Foundation reached out. Vecchione said they are now working with the park to help people in Mozambique to develop their own technology lab so they can make their own protective equipment.
“We can continue to collaborate to bring those skills and those resources to other areas that need them so that we can teach other people how to solve problems in their local communities," said Vecchione.
She hopes the lab can work to support technology and education in other communities in need, even after the pandemic.
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