College Responses to COVID 19 in South Dakota

Sometimes we can’t appreciate a calm life until everything goes crazy—and COVID 19 has shown that life can get pretty crazy, if you didn’t know that already. Luckily, South Dakota college responses to COVID 19 have been anything but crazy. Quite the opposite! They have been calm and unselfish. Read on to see just how amazing these colleges have been during this pandemic.

Here are College Responses to COVID 19 in South Dakota!

University of South Dakota

As COVID 19 sweeps across the world personal protective equipment have come in short supply as nations and states continue to fight the virus and treat patients.  The University of South Dakota has stepped up to seek out all the extra PPE they have on campus as well as organize a donation drive to gather more PPE to donate to healthcare facilities in their community to protect healthcare workers and first responders. While the campus is closed to in-person courses, labs and nursing simulations are not occurring at this time which frees up a lot of PPE that is used on campus for instructional purposes. They gathered 250 boxes of gloves, thousands of masks, goggles, safety glasses, and disposable gowns.

Southeast Tech

Southeast Tech works hand in hand with local healthcare facilities as many of their nursing and first responder alumni work within these facilities. With campus closed and labs put on hold, Southeast decided to gather and donate the PPE used on campus under normal circumstances in these labs. The college donated over $30,000 worth of personal protective equipment to help South Dakota be prepared to fight the coronavirus and keep their alumni working in the healthcare system safe. These supplies were donated to Avera and Sanford Health Systems.

South Dakota State University

A student at South Dakota State University wanted to help local first responders have the PPE necessary to keep them safe throughout the pandemic as they respond to emergencies. With a 3-D printer on campus and a personal 3-D printer at home, he has developed manufactured enough masks to donate to local EMT’s and other first responders with the help of faculty members. Students of the theatrical department have turned their skills from sewing costumes to sewing face masks for Brookings Health System. They have used a specialty surgical fabric and sewn over 400 masks that were donated to healthcare workers to be used at PPE.

South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

Students and faculty of South Dakota School of Mines and Technology have worked together to manufacture masks for medical professionals during the PPE shortage. They have designed a face mask that can be reused with insertable filters. These masks are made with 3-D printers. Student and faculty volunteers run the 3-D printers all day to make 50 face masks per day.

As the need for a stay at home directives and school closures became apparent to fight the coronavirus, colleges have stepped up to help battle COVID 19 in various ways. The Colleges’ responses to COVID 19 in South Dakota have been vast and varied, from making masks to 3-D printing face shields for health care workers. The financial donations, equipment donations, and time are given to help battle COVID 19 have shown how a crisis can bring humanity together to become better.

Do you know of any other amazing college responses to COVID-19? Let us know so we can recognize them and add them to our list!