Innovation and Inspiration: ‘Iolani producing face shields for Hawaii's health care community

The innovation center might as well be the inspiration center. 

Sullivan Center for Innovation and Leadership at ‘Iolani School has transformed into a real-life site that helps save lives. During this COVID-19 pandemic, faculty members are churning out hundreds of shielded face masks each for the health care sector. The Raiders are producing as many as 1,500 of these PPEs per week. On Tuesday morning, NASA asked to use ‘Iolani's design. 

This comes while students are at home doing their work via distance learning. The essential personnel on campus responded to a request from Hawaii Pacific Health. 

“They reached out to ask if we could print the design they came up with,” said Head of School Dr. Timothy Cottrell. “It’s an elegant design for the headband piece.”

‘Iolani discovered the HPH design required four to six hours to manufacture. A new design developed in house via 3D printing requires just three to four hours. 

The Sullivan Center has 40,000 square feet of space. The working area for the production of face shields is roughly 10,000 feet and manned by crews of five or fewer people. There are 10 faculty members in all involved with the operation. Dr. Cottrell doesn’t have a name for the humanitarian effort. He simply refers to it as “One Team,” which has been the school’s mantra since the days of Father Kenneth Bray. 

“We hired practitioners mostly as faculty, mechanical engineers, people with good industry experience. The whole model is to engage students with real-world problems,” Dr. Cottrell said. “The faculty put together the (new) designs.” 

Their 3D printer has been put to maximum use. 

“The biggest challenge is getting raw materials, then we can produce 500 to 1,000 a day. We’ve run out of 3D printer filament. You can think of it like a sewing machine, it essentially gets melted,” he said. 

If that visual seems like science fiction, it is more like science reality. Like hosts being created on Westworld, a TV show on HBO.

“I like Westworld, too,” Dr. Cottrell said. “A headband piece for a face mask, we can make three per hour on one printer, we have 20 (printers).

The printer isn’t their only tool.

“The other way is a different material, EVA. You probably know this from playrooms in your house. It’s rubbery and has jigsaw edges. We use them as a floor in robotics competitions,” he said. “We cut the headband out of this stuff. We also have laser cutters. Set up a design, cut the headband pice and attach the facemask piece."

EVA is practical. 

“A little bit easier to get that raw material. We have enough to make 4,000. Laminate sheets to make face shields. Cut it to the shape. Printer cuts the holes,” Dr. Cottrell said. 

‘Iolani has made 1,100 RVA face shields, 4,000 total, so far. 

“Tomorrow, we’re looking to send some to Queen’s (Medical Center),” he said. 

The process is detailed. After HPH’s request got the wheels spinning at Sullivan Center, the Raiders began something new. 

“We started getting requests from our community. We looked at a different design for speed of production and durability,” Dr. Cottrell said. “We’re able to sanitize.” 

The demand is a good sign, but one aspect that can't be controlled is delivery of material. 

“We have to wait for raw material to come in. We’re back ordered on filament and EVA material. Those orders are staggered. If we were able to have all the materials, we could produce 1,000 per day,” Dr. Cottrell said. 

There’s a balance between production, precision and safety. 

“We’re trying to be super careful as well. We all wear masks, gloved up. We disinfect everything as part of assembly process. That’s a time limiter,” Dr. Cottrell said. 

Word got around quickly in the medical community. 

“We’ve had a lot of alums and parents on the island. I sent an email out with a link describing what we’re making with a link, and it snowballed from there. We’ve given 550 to Queen’s so far, through people connected to the ‘Iolani ohana,” he said. 

The list grew. Queen’s made an order for 1,000 more. The chief of the Honolulu Fired Department also made an order for 1,000. 

“Our distribution sheet, we’re covering just about everybody. Hundreds to Kaiser (Permanente). We’ve given 100 to Straub (Medical Center). We have two faculty members over on Maui making these as well. Kapiolani (Medical Center for Women and Children), Kuakini (Medical Center), (Adventist Health) Castle.”

The staff has been buoyed by the donation of tasty meals from Izakaya Nonbei. 

“They’re over on Kapahulu Ave. Shout out to them. They’ve been feeding us every day,” Dr. Cottrell said. “We’re doing fine. Everybody’s spirits, there’s a lot of positive from it. When you get emails from doctors saying how important this is and how thankful they are… In the Queen’s ICU, he said, ‘I’ve seen some pep in people’s step knowing ‘Iolani supports us. It’s an emotional and mental kicker.’ “

There will come a time when the crew will look back and possibly wonder how this operation came to be. After all, these are educators who have turned, indirectly, into life savers.

“It is like a factory. You’re literally spending 48 hours doing the same task over and over. At my age, when I leave and I can’t even feel my hands. i don’t know if I’ll miss that,” Dr. Cottrell said. “The part that’s rewarding is these going to our first responders and health care professionals. It’s our way of thanking them.”

The opportunity to give directly to the health care community is golden.

“It’s a little thing we’re doing. These folks are out there risking their lives and caring for people. What we do is nowhere near as risky or meaningful as what these people are doing,” Dr. Cottrell said. 

On Tuesday morning, a new and unexpected point of contact reached out: NASA. 

“It’s all good work. You have a lot of good energy,” he said. “The One Team part of it is something we want to do as a community and pitch in. More than anything else, that’s what I hope the students see. You can make an impact, you don’t have to be at Google to do that. You can be in high school.”