Pacific leadership guides three-county effort to produce medical equipment

The race to 10,000 is on for the Print To Protect coalition.

The collaboration led by Dr. Nabeel Cajee, a graduate of the Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, has picked up considerable momentum in working on a request to produce 10,000 medical face shields for use in San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Merced counties in battling the coronavirus pandemic.

“We asked what was needed on the front line and the emergency services leaders said face shields,” said Cajee ’11, ’15, who has helped deputize an array of doctors and nurses, professionals, artisans, hobbyists and “people who want to help out.”

That includes significant Pacific expertise from the School of Engineering and Computer Science and the William Knox Holt Memorial Library and Learning Center.

In fact, Kadri M. Nizam, innovation spaces coordinator at the library, has moved into a role as technical advisor for the Print To Protect coalition. Nizam is working with School of Engineering and Computer Science lab technician Jeremy Hanlon to write a guide so there can be consistency among those contributing to the effort with 3D printers and laser cutters.

“We want to make the guide as general as possible so that everyone contributing can have a set of guidelines to follow,” said Nizam '19, who graduated with degrees in physics and applied mathematics. “Most of the 3D printers have similar traits.” 

Nizam, a native of Malaysia, worked for a term at the Pacific library as a student. He said it “just sort of turned into a full-time job.”

“I never really envisioned working on providing medical equipment during a pandemic when I started at the library, but this is interesting and very important work,” Nizam said.

Some projections have the three-county Central Valley area reaching its peak of positive COVID-19 cases by late April or early May. That leaves little time for this cadre of caring volunteers to reach the stated goal.

“We are dialing in the design and want to make sure what we get to the front line for health care workers can not only be used but can be used well,” Cajee said.

Visit the group’s Facebook page for more information or if you would like to contribute to the effort.