Laker Nation News

Lake Land College teamed up with Pilson Auto Center in Mattoon to produce much-needed face shields for Sarah Bush Lincoln.

Seeing a rapidly growing need for face shields in the emergency department, critical care unit and 2 South nursing unit where respiratory patients are cared for at Sarah Bush Lincoln, Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Mike Schwenke, Laker Nation Class of 2010, reached out to Lake Land College Emergency Services Program Coordinator Jasmine Ballard for assistance.

“It’s just such a huge need,” Ballard said. “I knew immediately that as a college, we would want to help.”

Ballard presented the idea to Lake Land College President Josh Bullock and Print and Mail Services Supervisor David Earp, who realized the Print Shop’s digital flatbed cutter would be the perfect tool to cut plastic into the needed shapes for the face shields.

“Lake Land College is proud to partner with these organizations to make a difference to the true heroes in this story: the brave men and women who are providing care in the emergency room and on the nursing units at Sarah Bush Lincoln,” Lake Land College President Josh Bullock said.

”We are so thankful to all the healthcare professionals in our area and throughout the nation. We are especially proud of the nearly 7,400 Laker Alumni working in the healthcare field.”

When contacted about the situation, Pilson Auto Center generously collaborated with Lake Land College to provide the funds necessary to purchase the rest of the materials for the shields.

“We simply wanted to help,” Pilson Auto Center Vice President Jamie Pilson said. “This community has been great to us for nearly 40 years, and our purpose is to make a positive impact on the lives of our team, customers and communities we serve.”

Coming alongside Lake Land College and Pilson Auto Center in the endeavor, Libman Company in Arcola offered the use of its distribution line to construct the shields. Although that was not needed, the college did take advantage of Libman’s connections to vendors when the necessary supplies became scarce.

“We had access to materials that we might not have had otherwise,” Ballard said.

Earp, along with David Vogel, William Lenz and Jimmie Perry, worked diligently to construct the shields and get them ready to deliver to Sarah Bush Lincoln. Earp said he and his staff took every precaution they could to be certain the shields remain sanitary, wearing facemasks and gloves any time the shields were handled. The shields were cut on a digital flatbed cutter and assembled by the team. They created 480 face shields in six business days!

“Any time that you can help out people in need, it feels good,” Earp said. “For us to be able to adjust on the fly and help out the community, especially to be able to help protect our healthcare providers that are taking care of all the sick, my staff and I are proud to be able to stand up and help our community.”

Schwenke expressed a great deal of gratitude to everyone who has contributed to Sarah Bush Lincoln at such a difficult time. “The whole team has just been so amazing and so accommodating,” Schwenke said. “The community support we’ve gotten is just fantastic. Words cannot describe how thankful we are for the community involvement and community outreach during this pandemic. We couldn’t do it without everybody’s support. We truly are one team conquering one event.”