A University Responds
UM mobilizes to fight a pandemic
By Susan Cuff
When the coronavirus pandemic hit Montana, UM marshaled its resources and expertise to respond in myriad ways.
A Regents professor of neuroscience and pharmacy called on his chemistry background to produce hand sanitizer for first responders. UM’s Innovation Factory brought together design, manufacturing and production expertise to respond to a request for protective face masks. The University community of faculty, staff, students, alumni, family and friends pitched in to help meet the emergency financial needs of students.
UM stepped up during the crisis in a big way. A roundup of the University’s pandemic response follows.
STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Focusing the spotlight on UM’s most important constituency, campus community members opened their wallets to help students needing emergency financial assistance during the pandemic. Two sources of assistance were quickly created.
The University Faculty Association launched a fund seeded with a grant from the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Believe in Students. The UFA, Montana Federation of Public Employees, the UM President’s Office, and current and retired faculty and staff all donated to match the initial $5,000 grant.
The second fund, the UM Emergency Student Support Fund, was created using donations from the Associated Students of UM and UM employees, family, friends and alumni. The UM Foundation managed the fund.
Both funds were available to students who faced unexpected financial hardship due to the pandemic and included assistance for essential needs such as rent, utility payments, medical expenses, food, transportation and distance-learning technology. The Emergency Student Support Fund also offered assistance with child care, tuition, books and other instructional fees and expenses.
The faculty union fund, called Faculty and Students Together (FAST), initially received 278 applications requesting tens of thousands of dollars of emergency support. Of those 278 applications, 155 were approved for modest awards of between $100 and $300, for a total of $44,840. Checks totaling $24,380 were sent to 84 individuals, and another 71 were approved for a total of $20,460. A panel of retired faculty members reviewed and approved the applications for the FAST Fund as they were received.
The UM Emergency Student Support Fund received about $75,000 in donations, including a $15,000 gift from ASUM. The ASUM funds were distributed to students in need in less than a week, providing a vital financial bridge before federal assistance funds arrived in the hands of students.
More than 800 applications were received and reviewed by UM’s associate vice provost for student success and the financial aid director. The requests averaged about $800 each and primarily were for rent, food and transportation. The Financial Aid Office continues to work with students on requests.
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT
The design, manufacture and production of personal protective equipment loomed large in UM’s response to the coronavirus. Unique statewide collaborative efforts emerged from requests for both face masks and face shields.
As a shortage of PPEs plagued the nation early in the spring, the University jumped in to help Montana partners meet their needs. UM’s Innovation Factory was in the thick of it.
Representatives from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, where health care workers and first responders faced a shortage of face masks, reached out to UM through connections at Accelerate Montana’s Rural Innovation Initiative. Initiative staff put them in touch with the Innovation Factory.
The partnership necessary to fulfill the Fort Belknap request would need a broad-based network of expertise. IF staff went to work, identifying resources across Montana.
Eventually, researchers, designers, plastics manufacturers, a production team and quality assurance testers were brought together to produce several thousand reusable, flexible face masks. All materials and labor were donated.
Although the initial request was to supply masks to health care workers and law enforcement on the reservation, those two entities had, in the meantime, secured their own equipment. The masks then were to be distributed to the four senior centers on the reservation, workers from a summer food program and a nonprofit summer camp.
The statewide networking and collaboration developed through the mask project will continue to provide benefits for both UM and the broader Montana community. IF acted as a “hub,” modeling statewide connectivity and partnerships and gaining credibility and awareness across Montana. Its potential, IF directors say, is in UM’s ability to develop partnerships, connect resources and offer expertise.
A Missoula physician with ties to both Community Medical Center and Providence St. Patrick Hospital reached out to the 3D-printing community, requesting help to produce face shields for frontline medical workers. This time, in cooperation with the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, IF again came to the rescue, and library staff used 3D printers to print the shield components.
A plant-based bioplastic was used for the headband and chin pieces. The clear plastic shields were produced by IF Co-Director and Professor Brad Allen. He used an industrial laser cutter to cut sheets of clear thermoplastic for the shield. All materials for printing were donated.
Printing the four-piece components for each face shield took about four hours. All components were delivered unassembled so they could be properly sterilized before distribution to medical personnel.
Additionally, “ear savers” were printed out of a strong and flexible nylon using a different 3D printer at the library. These devices help distribute the pressure from face masks to the back of the head and off the ears.
As with the development of the face masks, teamwork and the use of innovative technology and expertise made possible the initial delivery of 20 face shields and 55 ear savers.
But the fabrication efforts weren’t limited to the central campus. UM’s Flathead Lake Biological Station and Bitterroot College also joined the efforts.
FLBS fired up 3D printers at its SensorSpace facility to produce reusable masks for health care providers in Kalispell. The “Montana Mask” — a pattern developed by Montana medical professionals and available online — includes a disposable N95 filter.
Bitterroot College’s Fabrication Laboratory also designed a reusable mask produced by laser-cutting plastic. Combining design, research and determination, they developed a mask prototype that can be produced in about five minutes. Mask makers now are pursuing N95 certification from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
HAND SANITIZER
Regents Professor is the highest faculty rank in the Montana University System, and a UM member of that elite group stepped up to produce an emergency batch of hand sanitizer.
Richard Bridges’ day job involves complex neuroscience projects seeking answers to the mysteries of Alzheimer’s and ALS. But this spring, the Cornell-trained biochemist created a low-tech manufacturing operation to produce hand sanitizer for first responders, filling a critical need during the pandemic.
Relying on CDC guidance, Bridges concocted a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and vegetable glycerin to produce gallons of hand sanitizer for fire, police and medical personnel throughout Missoula County and neighboring regions. UM colleagues helped secure the raw materials needed, including alcohol, glycerin and plastic bottles.
Working with a volunteer team of students and Missoula firefighter Chris Kovatch, a member of the Western Montana Incident Management Team, Bridges and his cohorts filled every link in the supply chain, including securing and hauling materials, production, packaging and distribution.
The first batch of 50 gallons of sanitizer was distributed in 5- and 1-gallon jugs for refilling smaller containers. When small bottles that would hold 2 to 3 ounces became available, another 2,000 small bottles were distributed. Taken together, the initial batches were the equivalent to about 4,500 small dispenser bottles. Enough sanitizer remains to fill another 2,000 small bottles as needed.
Bridges credits the expertise of the UM family in the effort to help and support the greater Montana community.
BUSINESS ASSISTANCE
Thanks to the UM BEAR initiative, Montana businesses affected by the coronavirus pandemic are able to access a variety of resources related to operations and continuity.
The COVID-19 Business Emergency Assistance and Recovery (BEAR) Powered by UM initiative is the entry point for business owners and managers seeking assistance and expertise during the pandemic. Resources include assistance with CARES Act or Emergency Injury Disaster loans and the Paycheck Protection Program, the Families First Corona Response Act, employee and unemployment issues, legal questions, financial management advice and general business strategy advising.
UM supports businesses across the state, helping them mitigate the impacts of the coronavirus through its Accelerate Montana portfolio of economic development programs.
The Missoula Small Business Development Center, hosted at UM, has helped businesses prepare for applying for loans via the Small Business Administration or the CARES Act. UM’s Blackstone LaunchPad and Accelerate Montana Rural Innovation Initiative provide coaching sessions to entrepreneurs, as well as host live interviews and webinars with business owners, lawyers and other experts to share insights and expertise.
In response to a request for help through BEAR Powered by UM, the University identifies individuals, programs or organizations that are best suited to assist or guide the business.
ACADEMIC EFFORTS
On the academic side, UM took steps to allow health-program students to move through their coursework more quickly in order to help bolster frontline health care professionals in the fight against the pandemic even before the students graduated.
This spring, health programs at Missoula College, including nursing, respiratory care, medical assisting, surgical technology and radiology technology, rearranged class schedules to move students into the area workforce as rapidly as possible.
MC also helped out local health care providers by suspending clinical rotations to conserve valuable PPEs and to protect students against exposure to the virus. The Respiratory Care program also made four UM training ventilators available to area hospitals. In addition, the Surgical Technology program donated nearly 1,000 masks, gloves and gowns to area health facilities.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to flare up in Montana, lessons learned in the initial outbreak will help UM to respond even more quickly and effectively. Statewide partnerships, resource sharing and collaboration developed in the past several months will be vital to the health and safety of Montanans as we all move forward together. •
