Maker Studio scales down biocontainment unit

Brian Maass, of the McGoogan Health Sciences Library’s Maker Studio, met with leaders of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit last week to present them with a 3-by-3-foot model of the unit created at the studio.

The model, which was requested by Julio Lara, project manager at the Global Center for Health Security, will have several uses, said Angela Vasa, director of isolation and quarantine for special pathogens at Nebraska Medicine.

"This is really exciting for us," Vasa said.

It was requested by Lara and Dossy Felts, director of operations for GCHS, to help with training for Air Force participants in the Center for Sustainment of Trauma and Readiness Skills (C–STARS) Program.

"The Air Force C-STARS team does a lot of training for Air Force individuals here on how to manage special pathogen patients," Vasa said. "They want to be able to use this to show an example of a regional treatment center in an infrastructure that is set up, custom-built for biocontainment unit care."

While working with the C-STARS team, Lara and Felts were constantly fielding questions about the layout of the biocontainment unit, unidirectional workflow and so on, Vasa said.

They reached out to Maas to create the model for use in their training courses.

"They were trying to explain the layout of the biocontainment unit in a didactic lecture and by showing photos and realized that it would be beneficial to be able to show them a scale model," Vasa said.

She added that the model also can be used to explain the working of the unit to visiting organizations or government officials when the unit is being used for patient care.

Lieutenant Colonel Elizabeth Schnaubelt, MD, director of C-STARS Omaha, said:

"We are incredibly appreciative of the collaboration and support from the GCHS and NBU team to develop this model to enhance the learning of our students who attend our C-STARS Principles of Biocontainment Care course.  This 3D model provides a great visuospatial representation of the unit to reinforce key concepts including safety features and designated zones for biocontainment care."