Inspired-20

As the COVID-19 pandemic escalated throughout the spring, members of the UHart community used their expertise, skills, creativity, and generosity to lend a helping hand.

As our world is witnessing one of the worst global health crises in history, we have been forced to grapple with some hard questions over the past few months: How do we stay safe? How do we deal with a shortage of food and supplies? How do we teach and learn during a pandemic? How do we navigate this new reality?

But there’s another important question that many atthe University of Hartford found themselves asking:

WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP?

Caring for our neighbors is what we do. It’s a mission at the heart of our University, and in a time of uncertainty, UHart faculty, staff, students, and alumni are showcasing their generosity. From donating supplies to spreading positivity, Hawks are stepping up, using their community spirit to make a difference.

The face cover kit contents, including rubber bands, 3D printed face cover support parts, transparency sheets, and instructions for assembly.

For Takafumi Asaki ’03, M’04, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the College of Engineering, Technology, and Architecture (CETA), that community spirit is something he’s very familiar with. As a student at UHart, Asaki not only appreciated the personable atmosphere of a smaller school, but how that environment fostered compassion for the school’s neighbors. With the outbreak of COVID-19, many students and faculty at UHart wanted to help, but wondered what that looked like with stay-at-home orders in place. As for Asaki, he wondered what that would look like. Could they be used to create something for those working on the frontlines?

When it became clear that there was a severe shortage of personal protection equipment, he came up with the idea to use 3D printers to produce protective equipment for health professionals in the local area. For Asaki, who is a biomedical engineer and researches safety equipment, the project was a natural fit. Using an open-source design he found on the Internet, he realized that he and a small team could print plastic visors, which could then be paired with transparency sheets. Not only would the face covers be inexpensive, but healthcare workers could assemble the face covers themselves using a three-hole punch.

When CETA Dean Hisham Alnajjar gave the green light for the project, Asaki assembled a team of seven other CETA faculty members to help print, and one staff member from the dean’s office to order materials. But getting to the printers in the middle of a pandemic was not easy. With the University closed, access to buildings required Public Safety’s permission—and social distancing had to be observed. Over a weekend in early April, Asaki went in to compile all the materials that needed to be distributed, and then the printers were picked up by the faculty on a staggered schedule.

Asaki was able to modify the face cover design created by Adafruit Industries to work with the University’s equipment. Twelve UHart 3D printers, as well as four personal ones, were used to print the parts, and with each set taking between three and four hours to print, faculty have spent their days, nights, and weekends juggling their teaching responsibilities and printing face covers over the past few months. After the pieces are printed, Asaki collects them for inspection. If there are any misalignments, the face cover is discarded. The ones that pass his inspection are packed up with an IKEA-like instruction sheet and are ready for delivery to healthcare facilities.

Fully assembled face cover shield

To assist with the distribution, the CETA team brought in Lynn Baronas, who, as the senior director of strategic partnerships and corporate engagement at the University, interacts with community organizations and corporations on a daily basis. Asaki was intent on reaching out to smaller companies that normally might not receive such donations, and Baronas helped identify UHart partners who would benefit most. She became a coordinator of sorts, identifying a contact person for each corporation and arranging drop-offs. The former lawyer also worked with the University’s legal department to put a “hold harmless” agreement in place, which reduces the school’s risk when making donations.

Since April, the project has produced 175 face covers for UHart’s local partners, including Cigna, Masonicare, and Hebrew Senior Care. While Asaki plays a major role in the project, from modifying the design to packaging and delivering the face covers, he is adamant this is a team effort—and the unique environment at the University of Hartford makes it easy for everyone to come together.

“I think if I didn’t have help from my colleagues, this project would just be me showing up at Saint Francis Hospital with a box and asking them to take it,” Asaki says. “I couldn’t do the legal portion, or the communications part, or find these places to donate to. I worked at other schools before I came to Hartford, and sometimes there’s distance between departments. But here we don’t have those gaps, and everybody was able to coordinate for this project using their own specialties.”

This Puritan Bennett 840 ventilator was one of three ventilators loaned to Hartford Hospital from the University of Hartford’s respiratory care lab.

UHART STEPS IN

Face cover support parts being 3D printed.

For Baronas, it has been an inspiring project to be part of.

“Not only is the CETA team taking the time to make these face covers, but they really have an interest in making sure they go to the right corporations,” Baronas says. “We see our faculty every day, but to see them in these circumstances, being so genuine about wanting to help folks on the frontline, is a joy.”

But this desire to help those in need is not unusual for the University of Hartford. After all, as Baronas points out, this is a school committed to community, and the CETA team are not the only ones stepping in during tough times. Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic came dozens of stories about the people of UHart—from students, faculty, and staff to alumni— coming together to make a difference.

It was evident on the physical campus, where the University of Hartford provided free, temporary housing to area first responders, medical staff, and other essential workers who played vital roles in Greater Hartford’s response to the coronavirus.

We have a good opportunity to set an example for students, and that, to me, is the good part in all of this.

In addition to the face covers, UHart provided other supplies as health-care systems in the state sought out medical items during the pandemic’s peak. University Health Services provided portable thermometers to Hartford Healthcare; and three UHart-owned ventilators, normally used to train respiratory therapy students, were loaned to Hartford Hospital.

After learning that there had been an increase in domestic abuse calls to the local police since stay-at-home orders were issued, UHart’s procurement department donated flip phones and chargers to the city’s Interval House to give abuse victims the ability to call for help. And Dining Services sent a catering truck to Foodshare, the regional foodbank, to help feed the homeless. This was in addition to two bins of food that was donated by a group of students who moved out of residence halls at the end of March.

The UHart community is also using a wide range of talents to support those in need. In April, the school’s Entrepreneurial Center and Women’s Business Center used their staff’s experience to offer a free webinar for small businesses looking to navigate disaster relief options. As the pandemic worsened food insecurity, Carol Padberg, an associate professor and director of the interdisciplinary MFA in Hartford Art School, utilized her gardening skills to grow produce to add to the food pantry in her front yard. And some staff, like Laurie Granstrand, manager of graduate programs for CETA, and Dianne Silliman, human resources service partner, put their sewing talents to use, making masks for the local community.

Across the country, alumniled companies are making a difference during the pandemic. At the end of March, Cigna President and Chief Operating Officer David Cordani M’95 announced that the insurer would be waiving patient cost-sharing for all treatment for COVID-19. Alumnus Frank Hursey A’73, ’77 originally shut the doors to his company, On Site Gas Systems, Inc., when Connecticut’s governor ordered nonessential businesses to close. But Hursey opened back up four days later, when the military put in an order for 51 portable oxygen generating systems (POGS). His employees did not hesitate to return to work, following CDC social distancing guidelines, to build the POGS for mobile medical centers that were set up in cities hit hard by the virus.

UHart opened its campus last spring to local first responders and medical staff, who were provided with free, temporary housing.

A CONTINUED COMMITMENT

Communities are opening up in phases across the country, but the effects of the pandemic have proven to be lasting. This is why Asaki says he and his CETA colleagues aren’t ready to back off just yet. After the initial face cover donations to frontline workers in the local community, Asaki wants to focus on those at UHart. Back in April, while on campus distributing supplies for printing, he noticed the University’s public safety officers still hard at work. So in early June, he printed 25 face covers to be used by the public safety and housekeeping staffs. Asaki is also working on a design for a credit-card size “no touch” tool that University of Hartford students can use when they return to campus. His design features a hook that can be used to open doors or push buttons on elevators or keypads.

“I tell my students that anybody can be a volunteer,” Asaki says. “But you have to continue to volunteer. That can be more challenging, and it takes a lot of time and energy, but volunteering continuously is more important than doing it just once. So we are not finished yet. We have a good opportunity to set an example for students, and that, to me, is the good part in all of this.”