UMass Amherst Donates PPE Face Shields to Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing

SPRINGFIELD — UMass Amherst has donated 300 face shields to the skilled-nursing center at Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing. The face shields were developed by UMass researchers, engineers, nurses, and other health care professionals, and arrive at a time when personal protective equipment (PPE) is in very short supply for many nursing facilities in the region and throughout the country.

The design created by UMass enables the face shields to be mass-produced quickly by existing manufacturers. The first order placed by the Face Shield COVID-19 Response Team at UMass Amherst produced 80,000 face shields, manufactured by K+K Thermoforming, a company based in Southbridge.

“During challenging times such as these, we celebrate the spirit of collaboration and cooperation evidenced by the donation of needed face shields to Loomis by the University of Massachusetts,” said Marge Mantoni, CEO of the Loomis Communities. “The shields are being immediately employed in the Loomis Lakeside at Reeds Landing nursing center by our medical and related staff in serving our nursing-center residents. Many times over the past 12 years, the Loomis Communities has collaborated with the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and we welcome this generous gift of face shields as we work together in this time of crisis.”

UMass contributed more than $30,000 toward the initial production of face shields and hundreds of volunteer hours designing, testing, revising, and manufacturing the shields.