Something Labs

09/05/2020

Disposable gowns are still the second highest requested item of PPE, and one that makers can create and distribute to places in need! Check out the grant opportunity below if you're interested in getting involved. We begin reviewing applications next week!

2020 Maker Cohort Grant - Impermeable Gowns GetUsPPE celebrates the maker community for filling pressing, short-term PPE shortages with innovative designs. We are working to help support and bolster distributed American DIY manufacturing through our Maker Cohort PPE Program. Our first cohort w...

08/17/2020

Announcing $5000 Grants for Maker Gown Production!

Want to contribute to the PPE movement on the ground but aren’t sure where to start? Get Us PPE is launching a grant program and curriculum based cohort to kickstart DIY manufacturing groups interested in making and distributing impermeable gowns.

We invite interested groups to join us for an informational webinar on August 19 at 4pm PST / 7pm EST. At this initial webinar we will introduce an overview of gown production and manufacturing considerations including materials, equipment, labor, budgeting and distribution. Then we will invite groups to fill out this application to become a grantee and part of the cohort.

Find more info here: https://www.somethinglabs.org/blog/maker-cohort-grant-program

08/11/2020

Announcing $5000 Grants for Maker Gown Production!

Want to contribute to the PPE movement on the ground but aren’t sure where to start? Get Us PPE is launching a grant program and curriculum based cohort to kickstart DIY manufacturing groups interested in making and distributing impermeable gowns.

GetUsPPE celebrates the maker community for filling pressing, short-term PPE shortages with innovative designs. We are working to help support and bolster distributed American DIY manufacturing through our Maker Cohort PPE Program, to consist of six maker groups across the country. Each group will receive $5000 in funding to set up the manufacturing of Impermeable Gowns. The grant program will be tied to a curriculum to share best practices from experienced gownmakers in production process, set up and material sourcing, outreach and distribution, and team management, with mentorship from and

We invite interested groups to join us for an informational webinar on August 19 at 4pm PST / 7pm EST. At this initial webinar we will introduce an overview of gown production and manufacturing considerations including materials, equipment, labor, budgeting and distribution. Then we will invite groups to fill out this application to become a grantee and part of the cohort.

Find more info here: https://www.somethinglabs.org/blog/maker-cohort-grant-program

07/21/2020

Late last week, a Dr. Lily Muldoon walked into her shift at SFGH and noted a sign hanging on the drawers for PPE as she prepared for trauma activations and taking care of the majority of the city's COVID patients in the ER.

“We are LOW on gowns. Please save and reuse yours if not visibly soiled.”

Luckily, the doctor knew who to call. She reached out to us and within 2 hours we delivered 500 gowns to SFGH.

While a part of us is heartened at the opportunity to provide protection to our frontline workers and that we were able to activate quickly when we knew there was local need, much of us is concerned that we, Something Labs, a group of volunteers with self-designed PPE, are still needed to protect our doctors and health professionals. We’ll keep working to do our part to fight Covid-19, by making the PPE most needed on the frontlines, but eventually hope to see major manufacturing begin to fill these need soon to keep us all safe.

07/17/2020

Something Labs paused our impermeable gown production this past week after two members of our production team tested positive for Covid-19. We wanted to let our community and supporters know about this decision and share this information, as it has been part of our journey and highlights the risk of conducting any activity indoors with groups of people.
These two members of our team were part of a small quaranteam with an individual who began showing symptoms after they gathered on 4th of July weekend. Our two team members had not shown symptoms, but got tested after receiving news of their proximity to an infected individual. Last Sunday we found out they both tested positive.
Upon hearing this news, GownTown decided to shut down for the week to ensure the safety of all of our team members. Everyone who had spent time in GownTown was informed and encouraged to get tested and quarantine until their results came in. So far, all tests have been negative.
The week has served as an important learning experience, both to examine our own practices and safety protocols for gaps, as well as to learn about testing resources and barriers to access in the Bay Area.
On a broader scale, we’ve discovered that many testing facilities in San Francisco do not have adequate accessible resources in languages other than English. Kristy, our Gowntown Manager, has shifted her role from overseeing Gowntown operations to serving as facilitator to get many of our team members testing appointments, where language barriers otherwise prevent them from scheduling. Sam has been working with SF DPH to help get translation services for testing sites that lack them.
We are doing everything in our power to maintain a safe working environment for our entire team, be it the physical working environment, or continued off-site support from ‘management’ to ensure everyone can access testing resources regardless of language barrier or ability to pay. We will restart production next week, with additional safety protocols in place to ensure the health and safety of our team.
As we are experiencing this issue, we are living in real-time the inequities that become revealed in our society in response to this disease. We have to keep fighting for equitable health services, or it will lead to devastating health disparities. The public has to keep their focus on it to prevent public health responses from slipping.
@ Mission District

07/09/2020

This week we’re sending 8200 impermeable gowns to Native Territories with the help of ! Our team here has been hard at work and we can’t thank our supporters enough for enabling us to get this done!
Thank you and so many more for your support in getting protection to frontline workers where they need it most.

07/03/2020

As the pandemic PPE needs have shifted, to include ways to keep businesses safe as they’ve reopened, we began producing our own, and just last week, delivered to New Eritrea, Oasis Cafe and Golden Safari in the Bay Area. Read on for more about our sneeze guard project:

The sneeze guards commercially available, any are made a single style and size. We wanted to give local businesses and fabricators an easy easy to customize their own, so we created to basic designs to share out. One protects you from the front, and the other from three sides. Using our tool, you can type in the dimensions you want, and out spits designs to be cut and assembled. It jigsaws together, and no other materials or tools are needed.
In addition to sharing designs, it was important to support our local businesses. In a time where the nation has focused on the convergence of two pandemics: systemic racism and COVID, it felt important to address both of these issues. San Francisco food critic released a list of black-owned and operated restaurants to support in this time, and so that became our first calling list for a limited run of grant-backed sneeze guards.
We have been able to build 21 sneeze guards to distribute to 13 Bay Area businesses, and are partnering to distribute many more of the same design.

07/02/2020

We so appreciate the support we’ve had from Get Us PPE through our entire existence. Their grants have allowed us to send PPE beyond California and helped us identify where our products can have the greatest impact!

provided Something Labs with a grant in May, which enabled the organization to donate CAPR shields all around the country.

As of June, the Something Labs team mailed their last shipment of shields to New York City. All in all, the group donated 2,000 CAPR shields throughout the nation, including native territories. CAPR shields went to North Carolina, California, Colorado, New York, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Arizona, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and New Mexico; reaching 15 different health care facilities! ♥️

Learn more: https://bit.ly/31kR3se

07/01/2020

Starting in April, with the help of Alissa Brandon, project manager extraordinaire at Boston Scientific and friend of Something Labs, Boston Scientific produced one million face shields in just 26 days. This was the fastest ramp up to one million medical devices that Boston Scientific has ever done, and helped get them to the hospitals in most need!

Learn more about the project and the Something Labs contribution on our blog: https://www.somethinglabs.org/blog/1000000-face-shields-by-boston-scientific

06/26/2020

Did you know our GownTown crew has been kept fed with lunches by ?? We can’t thank you enough for supporting our essential work to get impervious gowns to the healthcare heroes who need it!
It takes a village, and that village is in the Mission right now!