As the COVID-19 pandemic started to escalate in the Santa Clarita Valley and personal protective equipment or PPE for healthcare professionals remained scarce, the MakerSpace at College of the Canyons turned back on its lights and fired up its 3-D printing machines.

“Our MakerSpace is a place for innovation and ingenuity,” said College of the Canyons Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook. “It was a privilege for the college to harness the creativity, focus and energy to support our local hospital, which is a strong partner of College of the Canyons and has been the employer of choice for so many of our nursing graduates.”

After 10 days of running the center’s six 3-D printers around-the-clock, MakerSpace assembled 150 face shields, which were delivered to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital on Tuesday, April 28.

“We are very grateful to College of the Canyons for these face shields,” said Marlee Lauffer, president of the Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital Foundation and vice president of marketing and communications for the hospital. “In today’s environment, it’s impossible to have too much PPE. Our entire staff, and especially our frontline healthcare workers, deeply appreciate COC’s resourcefulness and generosity.”

During the three-and-a-half hours it took MakerSpace instructional laboratory technician Christopher Walker to make a face shield, his mind inevitably turned to members of his own family who work in the medical field.

“If we can help prevent one transmission of COVID-19 or make just one health care worker or emergency responder feel just a little bit safer doing their job, we have achieved what we had hoped to do—to help others,” said Walker.

Materials for the face shields were funded through regional sources, including the college’s Center for Applied Technologies.

Marlee Lauffer and Christopher Walker.

“It is an honor and privilege to utilize the MakerSpace to assist our first responders during this unprecedented crisis,” said Jeffrey Forrest, vice president of economic and workforce development at the college. “We will continue to use our resources to help the community in any way we can.”

MakerSpace will continue producing face shields for healthcare professionals throughout Southern California on an ongoing basis. Up next are 200 face shields for COC nursing students.

The MakerSpace mission is to enable community members to design, prototype and create manufactured works that wouldn’t be possible to create with the resources available to individuals working alone.

Both of the college’s MakerSpace facilities have been designed as collaborative learning areas that give users free access to tools, materials, technological resources, skills training and a variety of entrepreneurial opportunities.

MakerSpace Valencia opened in May 2016, followed by the opening of the Canyon Country campus location five months later.

To make 3-D material donations toward the MakerSpace’s face shield project, contact Mike Bastine at 661-362-3739.

For more information about the college’s MakerSpace, visit the center’s webpage.