NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Washington teens tackle project for essential employees
By JEDIDIAH MAYNES
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
WALLA WALLA, Wash.
— The sewing machine and
the 3D printer have become
friends.
Local students in the
Walla Walla Valley are using
their passion for the new
technology to help provide
comfort — literally — to
those who must wear masks
in essential businesses and
services during the COVID-
19 pandemic.
A brother and sister at
Walla Walla High School
and students at DeSales High
School have used modern
technology to make mask
wearing a much less prob-
lematic practice.
“I’ve always loved tech-
nology and 3D printing,”
said Walla Walla High
School freshman Jackson
Adams, 15. “I’ve seen it used
in medicine and medical
technology, and that’s what
made me want to go into it.”
The Adams family has
taken its love of technologi-
cal innovation and applied it
to today’s needs.
“I’m extremely interested
in biomedical engineer-
ing and innovation,” said
16-year-old Lauren Adams,
a Wa-Hi sophomore. “Being
able to print things that can
save lives is just a cool thing
to be able to do.”
They know they might
not be directly saving lives
Walla Walla Union-Bulletin Photo/Greg Lehman
Lauren and Jackson Adams drop off 3D-printed ear guards for masks with registered nurse
Elizabeth Bowen, a nurse leader at Providence St. Mary Medical Center, on Friday.
with their most recent proj-
ect, but it’s coming in
handy for medical workers
nonetheless.
As
mask-wearing
becomes more prolific, the
U.S. has seen a shortfall in
supplies of the crucial anti-
viral tools, even at hospi-
tals and essential businesses,
such as grocery stores.
Luckily, teams of volun-
teers have busted out their
sewing and craft skills to
make thousands of masks
locally. The masks are
washable and meet federal
standards.
But even those fortunate
enough to have masks have
found wearing them all day
brings discomfort and some-
times pain as the mask’s
loops tug on ears and even
rub skin raw over long hours
of work.
The solution is a little
plastic connector that con-
nects the loops at the back of
the head, relieving tension at
the ears.
Lauren and Jackson
Adams worked with volun-
teers centered at Walla Walla
Sew & Vac and Spas. They
took some free designs from
online and began printing
the connectors — called ear
guards — and using them on
the cloth masks being dis-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
WEDNESDAY
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tributed from the Rose Street
business. After discussions
with the volunteers and
some tweaks in the design,
the Adams kids got to work.
“After dozens, if not hun-
dreds of hours, we worked
out the issues and now it’s a
pretty well-oiled machine,”
Jackson Adams said of the
printing system.
Meanwhile, in DeSales’
MakerSpace lab, a similar
project has started.
Sophomore Simon Scheel
learned of a group of Boy
Scouts who had put their
design for the ear guards
online for free.
“He said, ‘Hey, why
Cooler with
occasional rain
70° 46°
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PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
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Kennewick Walla Walla
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Astoria
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Pullman
Yakima 74/45
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Portland
Hermiston
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The Dalles 74/50
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La Grande
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Albany
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Medford
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WSW 6-12
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Klamath Falls
65/35
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2020
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5:58 a.m.
7:50 p.m.
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NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 104° in Falfurrias, Texas Low 2° in West Yellowstone, Mont.
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Copyright © 2020, EO Media Group
ENTERPRISE — The
reward for information
leading to the arrest of
the person responsible for
poaching a bighorn ram in
rural Northeastern Oregon
has increased, according
to a press release from the
Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife.
The reward for infor-
mation started at $1,000
but has steadily increased
thanks to contributions
from a variety of groups,
including the Oregon Hunt-
ers Association, Oregon
Wildlife Foundation and
the Oregon Chapter of
the Foundation for North
American Wild Sheep.
“Collaborative efforts
like this send a strong
message that Oregonians
feel protective of our fish
and wildlife,” said ODFW
Director Curt Melcher.
“This is a place where we
find common ground in our
values and beliefs.”
The ram was shot ille-
gally in Wenaha Wildlife
Area, outside of Troy, in
late January, according to
Oregon State Police. The
ram was shot near a winter
feed station where Oregon
Fish and Wildlife staff pro-
vide winter food for a vari-
ety of animals in the wild-
life area while the ground is
snow covered.
The animals’ trek toward
the feeding station makes
their presence predictable,
which creates opportunities
for poachers, officials said.
“Poachers take away
opportunities from every-
one else out there follow-
ing the rules,” Oregon State
Police Fish and Wildlife
Cpt. Casey Thomas said.
“I’m very appreciative of
all the different organi-
zations coming together
to increase the reward
amount, which will hope-
fully generate a good tip or
information that leads us to
those responsible for kill-
ing this bighorn.”
The ram in question was
shot on Jan. 26, according
to data from a GPS tracking
collar the ram was wearing.
When police investigated,
they found the tracking col-
lar had been cut off the ram
and a severed ear, which
has an identification tag,
was from an adult ram.
Forensics evidence indi-
cates the animal was shot,
OSP Fish and Wildlife Sgt.
Chris Hawkins said in a
news release.
To provide information
on this case or any poach-
ing, call the Turn In Poach-
ers (TIP) line by dialing
*OSP or 800-452-7888.
WINDS (in mph)
74/44
68/33
0.00"
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through 3 p.m. yest.
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Pendleton 64/34
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24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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HERMISTON
Enterprise
70/46
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63°
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PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
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Aberdeen
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Tacoma
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59/49
sends a text to Scheel to let
him know the units are ready
for delivery. The team is able
to print 11 connectors at a
time through that process,
which usually means they
make around 25 per day.
“It’s a 10-step process,”
Rohde said of mask-making.
“There are three filters on
each side … we could make
one a day, maybe.”
Jackson Adams took a
crack at making one as well.
The Adams call it the “Darth
Vader mask.”
“It makes you sound like
Darth Vader when you’re
breathing,” Lauren Adams
said. The mask, which is up
to snuff with federal rec-
ommendations, took Jack-
son about seven hours to
print and a lot of the plastic
material.
“With the ear guards …
we would benefit the most
amount of people we could,”
Jackson Adams said.
The plastic needed to
make 3D printed objects —
which are called filaments
— is harder to come by these
days because of the popular-
ity of these ear guards and
the printed masks. Not only
that, it’s expensive to print in
general.
The Adams family and
DeSales have benefited from
generous donors.
Lauren and Jackson’s par-
ents, Dan and Teresa Adams,
purchased the first batch of
filaments for their project.
$10,000 reward for poaching info
East Oregonian
Breezy with clouds
and sun
not?’” said Scheel’s super-
visor at the lab and DeSales
teacher Eric Rhode. “It’s just
something small to help out
the community.”
That small thing, a lit-
tle piece of plastic, has pro-
duced a lot of smiling —
albeit masked — faces.
Scheel recently got to
deliver 100 connectors to
Providence St. Mary Medi-
cal Center in Walla Walla.
Lauren and Jackson
Adams have made about 150,
as of this weekend, and also
donated some to the hospi-
tal, along with Walla Walla
Police Department, Sharp-
stein Elementary School,
Park Manor Rehabilitation
Center and Jonathan M.
Wainwright Memorial VA
Medical Center.
Scheel’s first attempts at
making the ear guards went
to Valley Vision in Walla
Walla, where a small group
of employees got to give
them a test run.
From there, they started to
produce as many as possible.
Scheel and Rohde, along
with DeSales senior Dom-
inic Keene, space out their
visits to the lab because
the printers are in a shared
space.
Scheel goes to the space
in the morning and makes
sure the printers are func-
tioning and begins the print-
ing process. Rohde then goes
in the afternoon and finishes
the process. From there, he
70s
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BRIEFLY
Washington anglers protest
coronavirus fishing closure
RICHLAND, Wash. — Protesters in
boats and on shore Saturday demanded
that restrictions on recreational fishing
and shellfish harvesting in Washington
because of the coronavirus be lifted.
About 50 boats along with several hun-
dred protesters on shore gathered on Sat-
urday around Columbia Point Marina in
Richland in Southwestern Washington.
The state Department of Fish and Wild-
life on March 25 temporarily closed rec-
reational fishing and shellfish harvesting
to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
But the protesters say the restrictions
should be lifted because anglers can prac-
tice social distancing while fishing. They
said kayakers, jet skis, wake boarders,
pleasure boaters and others are on the
water.
“There’s nobody but us two out in the
middle of the river,” Alan Doughty told
the Tri-City Herald. He was on their boat
in the Columbia River with Pam Doughty
and their two dogs. “We’ve got a $60,000
boat. We have I don’t know how much in
gear. We’ve got a fishing license. We’ve
got insurance, and we can’t use it,”
Ben Hanes organized the protest after
noticing non-fishing boaters on the water
and believed the restrictions on fishing
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St. Luke’s hopes to increase
coronavirus testing capacity
BOISE, Idaho — St. Luke’s Health
System said it’s looking to significantly
increase its testing capacity for the coro-
navirus by using its own labs starting
Monday.
Hospital officials said they hope that
facilities in Boise, Twin Falls, Ketchum,
Meridian, Nampa and McCall can start
using their own labs that could boost test-
ing capacity past 1,700 per day by May.
But that depends on getting particu-
lar testing supplies that have been in high
demand.
St. Luke’s also said that drive-up screen-
ing tents for the coronavirus will operate
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week
in Boise, Meridian and Twin Falls start-
ing Monday. The screening tents had been
operating to 6 p.m., but officials say vol-
ume is greater in the morning.
Idaho has at least 1,655 virus cases and
43 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins
University tally on Saturday morning.
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