LOUISIANA: Meagan Moore

Louisiana State University

LSU Biomedical Engineering senior Meagan Moore is never one to back down from a challenge, especially if it means helping others (she created a cancer model to help personalize treatment last year). So, why would the coronavirus pandemic be any different?

Working alongside LSU Medical Physics and Health Physics Director Wayne Newhauser, emergency room physician Tom Fox, two LSU physics students, and members of the community, Moore is once again helping those in need by creating face masks, ventilators, and face shields for nurses and doctors working with COVID-19 patients at LSU Health in New Orleans.

Before Moore got the call to help create a ventilator prototype less than a week ago, she and her mother Kathryn Moore were knee deep in looking at patterns and sewing face masks for the nurses and doctors in New Orleans who are treating patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Meagan and Kathryn, who has two degrees in the fashion and textile merchandise field, followed a mask pattern they found online that was designed by a hospital chain. They, along with other experienced seamstresses, found the pattern difficult to follow, so they improvised.

Their mask consists of two layers of tightly woven cotton sewn together with elastic bands that go over the ears. Once elastic became hard to come by, Kathryn got creative and used elastic bands from old Mardi Gras ball masks.

“Ideally, the mask is going over an N-95 mask to provide additional protection so the N-95 can continue being used,” Moore said. “Our masks can be sterilized appropriately at the hospitals because most people aren’t going to use or don’t have the level of disinfectant needed at their house.”

Moore and Newhauser, who is also a professor in LSU’s Department of Physics & Astronomy, are working directly with local respiratory specialists, medical physicists, and engineers to fabricate ventilator parts and a variety of personal protective equipment for healthcare personnel in Louisiana.

“We’re doing a lot of telecommunicating with doctors,” Moore said. “We’re currently doing 3D prints with base stock because the hospitals have gotten to the point where they are desperate and we’re trying to push things through. Certain companies have done copper printing but it’s extremely slow and expensive. Our 3D-printer material is PLA (polylactic acid) but we could possibly move up to another type of material.”

Read the full story from LSU here.