KINGSTON, R.I. — June 8, 2020 — Some 溏心vlog免费B站 students experienced an abrupt end to their International Engineering experience in Germany, but when they returned home, they didn\u2019t sulk and sit still. 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty members squeezed in time between giving exams and grading papers to offer their expertise. And administrators and staff pitched in in countless ways to be of service to health care professionals and those hit hard by COVID-19, the novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n
Their mission–assist those from VentilatorProject.org, the Rhode Island Commerce Corp. the Rhode Island Department of Health, 30 fire stations, hospitals and industry to collect and refurbish sleep apnea machines to serve as supplementary breathing machines for hospitals treating patients with COVID-19.<\/p>\n
The project, which started April 13, and ran for three weeks, operated out of the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Memorial Union. Throughout the project, hundreds of CPAP and BiPAP machines donated from around the state and other parts of the country, arrived at the Union\u2019s loading dock, where volunteers sprung into action to unpack and clean the machines before they were sterilized and brought to the Memorial Union Ballroom for reconfiguration and packaging for distribution to Rhode Island hospitals and other countries. Recently, the Rhode Island National Guard transported units to the Bahamas and Timor Leste, and 溏心vlog免费B站 and the Ventilator Project are sending machines to Nigeria, Ghana, Indonesia and the Philippines.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty and student volunteers who came out were amazing,\u201d said Air Force Col. Erik Brine, executive director of the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology. \u201cNot only was their labor critical\u00a0 to the success of the project, but the technical acumen and experience they brought allowed us to do things like set up and run a temporary ozone sanitation function in the Memorial Student Union.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brine, of Jamestown<\/strong>, was pleased with the exceptional efforts of 溏心vlog免费B站 community members, but he singled out Laura K. Glastra, a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Oceanography, who hails from Seattle, Washington<\/strong> and now lives in Narragansett<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cLaura, who studies microplastics at 溏心vlog免费B站 completed all of the necessary research to assure the safest, most efficient and effective means to conduct equipment sanitation,\u201d Brine said.<\/p>\n Another student volunteer was Isabella Silverman, a Cumberland<\/strong> resident, who earned her bachelor\u2019s degree in ocean engineering May 17. She joined other volunteers on the loading dock during a few raw spring days and then helped out in the manufacturing area, all while wearing a face covering and maintaining social distance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was cool to be part of the entire experience, from unloading trucks to working on the machines and to know they could be going all over the world,\u201d Silverman said. \u201cI volunteered because it was a great way to wrap up my time here.\u201d<\/p>\n While preparing for and taking her finals, she put in 15 to 18 hours a week. \u201cI helped with all tasks, but mainly worked on the re-programming of the CPAPS and BiPAPS,\u201d Silverman said. \u201cWe turned on the machines, connecting them to a manometer to adjust their clinical settings and make sure they worked properly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis ended up being so rewarding, and I reconnected with some fellow students I hadn\u2019t seen in a while,\u201d Silverman said.<\/p>\n Jeffrey Kimmerlein of South Kingstown<\/strong> and Aaron Hertzer of Lincoln <\/strong>were both in Germany in mid-March for what they hoped was completion of their internships as part of the one-year abroad portion of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s International Engineering Program. But then COVID-19 cases spiked in Europe and they were called home. They quarantined for two weeks, and then they received an email about the Ventilator Project from Sigrid Berka, director of the German IEP. They worked at the project from April 17 to May 6.<\/p>\n Like Silverman, Hertzer and Kimmerlein worked in every stage of the process, but focused mainly on in-depth testing of the machines.<\/p>\n \u201cI am extremely happy that I was able to be part of this project,\u201d said Hertzer, who is president of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Sailing Club. \u201cIt was a great way to use my enjoyment of taking stuff apart and fixing things to be used for people in need. Just being able to serve in a time of crisis was a huge honor on its own, and I was more than happy to lend a hand.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimmerlein said he and Hertzer are classmates, fourth-year students in the five-year IEP and glad to learn that there was a way to help people when they returned home.<\/p>\n \u201cBoth of us are mechanical engineering students, so we were happy to test and repair the machines so that more could be used to help people,\u201d said Kimmerlein, a member of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Pep Band and That Ram Band. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to hear that we were part of a project that would help people around the world. It was a real pleasure working on this project.\u201d<\/p>\n Christine Gardiner, who now calls Newport <\/strong>home, earned both her bachelor\u2019s degree and master\u2019s degree in chemical oceanography from 溏心vlog免费B站. She helped with inventory and unloaded trucks.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was such a great effort,\u201d she said while working in the Memorial Union Ballroom, where packages were labeled, stacked and made ready for distribution. \u201cWe were all asked to stay home by the governor, but I needed to get my hands dirty and stay involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Laura Holland, a Ph.D. student in biological environmental science, said it has been hard to be a scientist during the pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch was viewed initially as non-essential, and I was feeling a little helpless,\u201d said the Exeter <\/strong>resident.\u00a0 \u201cI love going to my lab, working in my office. Being part of this has made me feel more productive.\u201d<\/p>\n Elizabeth Mendenhall, an assistant professor of marine affairs and political science, helped with several aspects of the process, including cleaning the machines.<\/p>\n \u201cI live alone, I am not high risk and so I volunteered,\u201d the Newport<\/strong> resident said. \u201cBecause I am detail oriented, I volunteered to clean the machines. I used cotton swabs to clean the hard-to-get-to parts of the machines. I am really impressed with students and faculty who took time out of their schedules at the end of the semester to do this.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really makes you think about how wonderful this community is,\u201d Mendenhall said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. — June 8, 2020 — Some 溏心vlog免费B站 students experienced an abrupt end to their International Engineering experience in Germany, but when they returned home, they didn\u2019t sulk and sit still. 溏心vlog免费B站 faculty members squeezed in time between giving exams and grading papers to offer their expertise. 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