The workers at the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center, Inc. were happy to get their shields as they start COVID-19 testing in Milwaukee.

Donations

Our big news for the week is that we broke $20,000 in donations with our GoFundMe campaign. Yesterday we reached, with a matching donation of $1,000 from GoFundMe, $21,422. This means we are OK for money for now.

Deliveries

The other big news is that we have donated over 5,000 shields. Two weeks ago, we delivered 2,199 shields. Last week, we delivered 1,612. This week, we delivered 805. We are not sure if this is because the need is diminishing because COVID-19 is going away or because health care workers are finally finding suppliers or if it is because the people who need to know about us don’t know about us.

It may be a combination of the two. Yesterday afternoon, we got a request for 200 shields from a woman whose mother is at a local nursing home. Nine of the residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The home did not have any face shields at all.

And another person wrote, “My granddaughter requested 25 masks for herself and her coworkers.  She says that the number of patients has eased up but that she is preparing for the expected second wave.”

We do have substantial inventory of both raw materials and finished shields that Markus can store for us.

Clicker press

We mentioned last week that Markus has been working on a clicker press so we can make our own visors.

Markus is testing the new die from Apple Die.

We found a press at auction and paid – are you ready – $11 for it. (We are Wisconsinites. We are frugal.)

As soon as it’s at the shop, we will get photos and video, we promise.

In the news

And finally, we have gotten some really nice press (of the fourth estate type) lately.

When nurses and doctors needed face shields, a couple of young Marquette engineers started creating them Marquette University

With the COVID-19 pandemic and “Safer at Home” order, members of the Milwaukee Makerspace pivoted from using their facility as a space for innovation and learning to one that can create thousands of face shields per week. Urban Milwaukee

The nonprofit Milwaukee Makerspace recently launched a project to get critical personal protection equipment (PPE) to medical professionals, hospitals and clinics at no cost. OnMilwaukee

Volunteer engineers teamed up to make face shields My Frontline Hero

Your work is more appreciated than you will ever know! Helping us to keep our families safe while caring for our patients is the greatest gift you could ever give. Thank you!

Once again if you are in need of face shields, please request them!