Personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers and first responders is something we are hearing a lot about right now on a global level.
Nonprofits and individuals across the nation are producing PPE to help.
Cruces Creatives, which received more than $21,000 from the city of Las Cruces to make PPE is one of the local organizations assisting in the effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDrykjQIGVo&feature=youtu.be
Normally Cruces Creatives would be filled with people working on personal projects or teaching local children. But right now, it’s quiet except for the repetitive drone of 3D printers making personal protective equipment, or PPE.
What we can’t hear are the teams of volunteers working from home to create PPE for our frontline workers. Cruces Creative’s Lea Wise-Surguy says volunteers came together after seeing the crisis unfold.
“The PPE project started while watching the news, seeing different makers around the globe starting to make PPE and realizing that this was likely to be a worldwide issue that we were looking at and it was really interesting. Within about 24 hours I had about a dozen different individuals reach out wanting to start this project. So, it was very much a community experience of saying we want to make this happen,” Wise-Surguy said.
And as Cruces Creatives members and volunteers sounded a call for action, the community got involved.
“We had tremendous response from the community. At the moment we have over 80 individuals who are working with us on these projects… Our volunteers span both our members and also new people that we’ve never met before,” Wise-Surguy said
Right now, Cruces Creatives is focused on getting PPE out to the frontline workers.
“We’re first addressing our medical community, making sure they have everything they need and then secondly we will be reaching out for our public workers who are still out helping the community,” Wise-Surguy said
Cruces Creatives is also using its website to teach anyone how to make a mask at home.
“Our design is available at our website, crucescreatives.org, and we have a full manual to give you the instructions on how to make it, what material you need, and then also how to make it safely while you’re making it,” Wise-Surguy said.
Wise-Surguy says the process of helping comes with its own reward.
“It’s a hard moment to live through and finding a way to help is one of the things that helps harden me through this experience. Makers spaces are ideally setup for being able to help in a moment like this. We already have a lot of tools. We already have a lot of materials and we also have a huge community of makers. And so, it made it very easy for us to be able to jump in to a project like this. It’s sort of incredible that makers have taken it upon themselves to find solutions to a problem that’s out there and being a part of that set of solution makers is very calming in what is otherwise a very stress filled time,” Wise-Surguy said
And Wise-Surguy says she hopes the community will take away something as well.
“My hope for a take-away is that everyone knows there is a way you can help. It’s finding what that means for you,” Wise-Surguy said.
If you would like to donate or get involved, you can find that information online at CrucesCreatives.org.