CREATE Center for the Arts Joins Local Doctors in the Fight Against COVID-19

Press release

Palm Desert, CA — CREATE Center for the Arts, a nonprofit community arts center based in Palm Desert, has repurposed its technology lab to serve as a 3D printing center to provide needed materials to local health care providers. CREATE Center closed its doors to the public on March 19th after Governor Newsom issued the Stay at Home Order to Californians, but the nonprofit’s founder, Debra Ann Mumm, wanted to find a way for the organization to continue to serve the community. CREATE Center’s newest addition, a technology lab which hosts a virtual reality studio and two 3D printers, offered Mumm and the organization a unique opportunity to help.

The shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) that has followed in the wake of the novel coronavirus is putting health care providers around the world at risk. The shortage of face masks puts health care professionals at a higher risk of contamination. Mumm had heard of other groups helping mitigate this shortage by 3D printing masks and started researching how CREATE Center could do the same. Mumm was put in touch with Dr. Richard Loftus, a local doctor working with health care providers around the valley to help combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Together they decided on a mask design created by a Spanish doctor that can be 3D printed in approximately one hour and CREATE Center began to work out the logistics. On March 23rd, the first prototype of the hospital shield mask was delivered to Dr. Loftus’s colleague, Dr. Ignacio Borensztejn in Rancho Mirage. Currently, CREATE Center is working on printing more masks and encouraging other organizations with access to 3D printers to help in production. If community members would like to learn how they can help they can visit createcenterrm.org/communityresources to learn more.

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CREATE Center for the Arts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable arts organization allowing for civic financial support, sponsorships and grants to support our mission of creating community enrichment through the arts. CREATE Center for the Arts connects the community to creative resources to drive innovation and collaborative creation in the Coachella Valley.