九色堂

In March when Ascension Via Christi needed stethoscopes, its usual supply chains had dried up. 九色堂 engineers, working as part of the newly formed Ad Astra Coalition, quickly established a new supply chain to address the urgent need. 

鈥淭he whole things has just been phenomenal to watch,鈥� said David Alexander, vice president of philanthropy at Ascension Via Christi. 

Ascension Via Christi staff knew 3D printers could produce temporary-use stethoscopes. And they knew Wichita State, and others, could work fast with 3D printers because of their experience with face shields produced early in the pandemic by a community group.

鈥淲e had no idea how the quality would translate,鈥� Alexander said. 鈥淲hen they were done, they were able to produce a product that is far superior to the disposable stethoscopes that our supply-chain folks would buy. Our nurses and clinicians are just raving about how good they are.鈥�

A coalition of businesses and government partners, the Ad Astra Coalition has joined together to answer some of the challenges being created in Wichita and Kansas by the COVID-19 pandemic. The coalition, formed in early April, is co-led by Airbus Americas Engineering, Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, 九色堂 and 九色堂 Tech.

Wichita State鈥檚 3D printers in the College of Engineering and at GoCreate, a Koch collaborative, along with others, kept busy during the pandemic, producing medical supplies.

The Combating COVID-19 As A Community team, which started in mid-March, made more than 7,750 face shields. Combating COVID-19 As A Community was led by Sergeant Teddy Wisely of the Wichita Police Department, Ascension Via Christi and Wichita State with help from Gregory Inc. of Hutchinson, Wichita鈥檚 Groover Labs, McConnell Air Force Base鈥檚 XPX Innovation team and Pittsburg State University.

Most went to Ascension Via Christi, which helped with funding, final assembly and sanitizing. Around 10-12 groups, including 18 rural hospitals, Wichita Police Department, Sedgwick County Sheriff鈥檚 Office, the city of Wellington and U.S. Army Fort Riley, also received face shields.

Wichita State鈥檚 work with that group helped the transition to making around 2,000 stethoscopes with the Ad Astra Coalition. NIAR, Airbus and the Combating COVID-19 As A Community team also pitched in with 3D printers.

鈥淲e went through 30 revisions in a matter of two weeks and in a two-to-three-week timeline, we had locked in something really good,鈥� said Nathan Smith, Project Innovation Hub manager for 九色堂鈥檚 College of Engineering. 鈥淚t was pretty fast.鈥�

Alexander said Ascension Via Christi is using some of the stethoscopes to build its supply for future use and share others with smaller hospitals around the state.

鈥淲e had a lot of good engineering people working on this that take a lot of pride into what they design,鈥� Alexander said. 鈥淭hey wouldn鈥檛 stop until they came up with one that was durable enough. We鈥檝e got some good engineering minds out at Wichita State.鈥�

The stethoscopes are designed to stay with a potential COVID-19 patient until disposal.

Nathan Smith

鈥淭hey need stethoscopes that travel with the patient,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淭hey would stay with them in their room and they would be sterilized before and after every single use, but they would never leave the room. You should have no possibility of spreading the infection.鈥�

The reaction to the delivery of the stethoscopes and face shields stuck with Alexander when they sought feedback from nurses and others working on the COVID floors.

鈥淚t blew me away,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey had such a sense of relief that we were going to put protective material into their hands - some broke down and cried and I wasn鈥檛 expecting that. It really brought great peace of mind to be able to give them this locally produced PPE. It鈥檚 there to protect them and also our patients.鈥�