Cottage Health to use face shields produced by UCSB, local companies

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital medical employees who are on the frontlines in the fight against COVID-19 are now using face shields produced locally.

The face shields are produced through a collaboration between engineers from UCSB and some local companies.

The powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) face shields meet established safety standards and can be used to protect a caregiver in a room for all aerosolizing procedures including intubations, extubations and other procedures that are invasive to the airway and are high-risk for medical personnel, Cottage said.

They feature a fan in the helmet that filters air from the room and removes more than 99 percent of airborne pathogens. The PAPR face shield is a complex design with an intricate manufacturing process.

Cottage worked with a group of local experts to kickstart the manufacturing progress. The group includes Eric McFarland, MD, PhD, a Chemical Engineering professor at UCSB who is a former Emergency Department physician at Cottage, local engineer Matt Silva, Ed Leicht from Implantech in Ventura and local engineer and entrepreneur, Ray Karam.

“This has been an amazing collaboration and we are very thankful to our partners for their dedication and hard work,” said Lisa Moore, Vice President of Clinical Services at Cottage Health in a news release.

Cottage has already received 188 face shields and 800 more are expected by April 20.

“The new face shields will allow our clinical teams to safely perform procedures using the industry’s best practices,” Moore said.