 It's Wednesday, and you know what that means, it's time for Hawaii, the state of clean energy, sponsored by the Hawaii Energy Policy Forum. I met you and your host for today's show. I'm pleased to welcome my two guests, Noel Moran and Mary Beth Leitchak from the Hawaii STEM Community Care located on the big island of Hawaii. Noel and Mary Beth are going to tell us about a very innovative program that addresses COVID related safety projects. Their organization is initiated to address COVID safety on the big island. Noel and Mary Beth, welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks for having us. I'd like to start because I'm not good with acronyms, so what in the world does STEM mean just for all of us out there that don't get this kind of stuff? So STEM is science, technology, engineering, and math. And so when we look at what STEM fields are on the big island, astronomy is one of them. That's actually the industry that I work in, but there's a lot of other high-tech STEM fields. So once that focus on science, technology, engineering, and math that this program taps into. Great. So tell me about your organization and what does it do? Who wants to lead off on that? Yeah, allow me. So Hawaii STEM Community Care is a coalition of a number of organizations and individuals in the STEM arena on this island. We have Hawaii Science and Technology Museum, NEXTEC Hawaii, Canada, France, Hawaii Telescope, Pisces, East Hawaii, I'm sorry, East Asian Observatory, and also UH Hilo Computer Science. We also have a physician in our group who advises us on matters related to COVID-19. Importantly, we have a number of students that are actively engaged in our projects. In addition to our mission of providing community service and support, we're also utilizing our programs to encourage STEM education in our local community. Yeah, I took the opportunity to visit your website and we'll get to that a little bit later, but I was very impressed with this young 15-year-old lady, young lady who developed your face mask, face visor, and a really nice video she did. So I won't steal your thunder by getting too much into the details, but it was really good to see you leveraging this program and bringing the students in and letting them use their imagination, work with their teachers, and actually develop a product, which is really good. So she's going to have the entrepreneurial spirit in there as well. So you talked about all the organizations involved in this, but who actually was the leader or took the leadership and founded this project or this organization? So the two groups that got together were Hawaii Science Technology Museum, as well as NeXTAC Hawaii. So the leads for those two organizations got together and they started to pull in their contacts in all these other organizations that I described earlier. So that was the start of the organization. Christian Wong, who's with Hawaii Science and Tech Museum, he was also with FIRE, and he noted that there was potential shortage in PPE, and rather than wait for what might have occurred, the group decided that we would be proactive, identify potential solutions to shortages, and proactively arrive at the product. So those two stem organizations that work with students were the catalysts for the organization. So are you all volunteers or do you have paid staff as well? Mary Beth, do you want to take that? So I am an in-kind volunteer. So I'm the director of strategic communications at the Canada-France White Telescope. So our executive director Doug Simons and our instrument designer Greg Green are in-kind donated to the project. So we've worked on a lot of the stem PPE development, a handful of the machining, and by handful I mean when we talk about the door openers that Noelle will describe. Those were all made in-house at CFHT, and our director developed in conjunction with the fire department some other ultraviolet light sanitizing boxes that can reuse N95 masks and make them sanitized. So our efforts and the efforts of the broader astronomy community have been in-kind donations as either our time, skills, or effort from our day jobs in astronomy. Oh bravo to you guys, that's really great. And just to get this out of the way at the front end, how are you actually funded? I mean you still have to buy materials and equipment and all that. So what's your source of funding and what kind of level of funding have you been able to raise so far? Mary Beth, do you want to take a shot at that? It really depends on the project that we're working on. So our PPE, there's a variety of ways that that's funded. Some of it is materials, for example, have been donated. The Pisces organization, which I am so sorry, Romo. I cannot remember exactly what it stands for, but Pisces has been absolutely integral. They're a Mars analog site on Mauna Kea, and they do a lot of work in new technologies for space missions. So one of the other projects that Pisces works on in their day jobs is actually creating basalt launch pads for potential rockets in the future. They've been pivoting some of those resources and again in-kind donating supplies, materials, and staff to do a lot of the 3D printing that we have. Some of the other sponsors have been Hawaii Community Foundation, Christian Wong, and the Hawaii Technology Science Museum. They've put some funding next tech, the organization that Noelle is primarily affiliated with. They've put in funding as well. On the Kiki Hero side, so that project's a little bit different. We've received funding from a variety of sources, the County Vibrant Hawaii, Waikaloa Foundation, Lex Brody's, as well as in-kind donations. Hawaiian Electric has made donations to a lot of these efforts that we have for the Kiki. It's a huge group, and we do a lot with a little. Yeah, that's great. It's really good. The stuff you've done is great. So Noelle, based on, that's a good lead-in for you to start talking, tell us about some of your projects that you're working on. Yeah, if we can maybe display the slide there with the PPE, I can briefly describe. Yeah, these are some of the items that we have worked on. Face shields, very self-explanatory. We identified a process that would allow us to create many of these in a relatively short period of time, and they are intended to augment face masks. Healthcare professionals and other service workers would utilize this in conjunction with face masks, and it's to help with protection from droplets. The hands-free door opener is something that allows first responders, healthcare professionals to minimize the need to have to glove or wash their hands as they're touching surfaces. The device we created allows for the opening of a variety of door handles and also to push on keypad buttons. The sanitizing sprayer that you see there in the lower left, that was in response to a shortage of the electrostatic sprayers. We had these ambulances that required the ability to be to be quickly sanitized after they transported patients, and the team came up with a quick solution that allowed for the spraying of hydrogen peroxide into the ambulances, and there are two units that are being used by fire stations adjacent to or close to hospitals. Mass comfort bands allow mask wearers to not have to deal with pressure around the ears, especially with the masks that have the loops. The mask ultraviolet irradiator, this is what Mary Beth had described earlier, allows for the N95s to be sanitized within 10 minutes. We created a number of these, and they're going to be on standby for certain facilities where the fire department, for examples, is taking a look at perhaps having these in the stations. And again, the intent is to provide a capability for organizations to quickly respond to potential shortages in PPE. So I have a quick question on your ultraviolet box. Yes. How do you know that I know the answer, but I want you to tell the audience, how do you know that it actually is working and killing all the viruses on the mask? Could you tell us a little bit about your QA? Exactly. So one of the things that we, first of all, the design is something that we had identified online. There was another fire department that had actually created something similar on the mainland somewhere. So the inspiration came from that. We optimized the design and we really wanted to maximize the surface area of the mask that would be irradiated, which is why you have the reflective surfaces, as well as the twin UV bulbs. Now, the big question is, does it work? And what we did was we enlisted the help of UH microbiology. They allowed us to essentially validate the efficacy of the UVC in killing microbes, essentially. And on top of that, there was a research that was done on the mainland somewhere that further validated the efficacy of the UVC in decontaminating or sterilizing viruses. So there were a number of things that we looked into to ensure that we took into account coverage on the surface, as well as the exposure time to ensure that we went above what was expected to make sure that the material is sanitized. So, first of all, a little shout out to UH, the University of Hawaii. We need all the good press we can get showing that we're supporting a community and solving today's problems. So, thank you, Hawaii Community College. Secondly, I understand you have a medical doctor that's part of your team. So can you tell us how he has contributed to this on the safety side? Yeah, so Dr. Craig Berger, he's a pediatrician at Hilo Medical. He was the inspiration for a number of these things. A hands-free door opener, for example, was something that he mentioned was in need. So he's involved in the various discussions we have. He would offer information about potential pitfalls, things that would maximize efficacy, and also things to avoid in terms of claims, in terms of what we're describing the products could be used for. So he's been a consultant with the design of a number of these different PPEs and devices. And as you'll hear from Mary Beth in a moment here, he's also been very instrumental in helping to frame the types of messages that we convey through our Kiki Heroes program. So I'll let you go. I interrupted you before you got through the whole list, right? Oh, yeah, there's one more thing I'd like to share, maybe just two things. So the item on the very far right was the hands-free sanitizer dispenser. And if you go into a number of the facilities today, stores, et cetera, you'll find these automated dispensers where, you know, through infrared detection, it knows that your hand is there and will dispense a certain amount of sanitizing fluid. The challenge, of course, is that not every facility or organization can afford such a thing. And on top of that, the refills are very specific or could be very specific to the dispenser. So we thought, why not come up with something that would allow for multiple dispensers to be utilized and come up with a design that allows for someone to dispense the sanitizing fluid without actually having to touch the device. And what you see there is essentially a foot-operated device that allows for dispensing of fluids from these commonly available dispensers. And we've created quite a few of these that are being distributed to organizations that need them but can't need these automated dispensers that can't afford the electronic versions. So I looked at it online because you have a really good website. We'll give you the website before you leave. But it's kind of a Rube Goldberg design in a way. It's made out of like PVC plumbing, I guess. Yes. Painted blue. I see if you bothered to paint it blue. I was really fascinated with the trigger of how you actually operate the foot pedal on that thing. It's just like you push the foot on the pedal and just a bungee cord resets it. It's really good. So about how much would that cost? We said it was low cost. So putting something like that together, what are we talking about? Yeah, that's great. If I recall correctly, there was a figure of about $80 that would take into account the labor and the materials for each one. We, of course, are distributing these free of charge to facilities that are in need of the device. And we're also sharing the plans. So if organizations are out there or individual out there would like to create the same thing, we can share the plans with them. So it'd be good if you could just comment on the fact that these are free to the community. Could you make a comment on that? Yes. So our organization as it relates to PPE distribution is offering these devices, these PPEs free of charge to health care facilities, first responders, service organizations here on Hawaii Island. I emphasize Hawaii Island because our donors, our supporters know that our commitment is to deliver these goods to our local communities. So that's the, they are being distributed free of charge. And on the website, you can click on PPE in the navigation bar at the top. And there's a request link there where you can actually submit your request for the items and someone will get in touch with you to verify the details and make the delivery. But I understand that if somebody out there in Think Check Land really likes this whole concept, that you're quite happy to share the model with them for if they want to do it on the neighbor islands or on the mainland or wherever, is that correct? Absolutely. Absolutely. This is our mission is to provide service to our community. And the more that we can socialize this and get this concept accepted across the state, across other areas that would be consistent with our objectives, our mission. Absolutely. And of course, if anybody wants to donate money or in kind, you're more than welcome to accept it, I guess. Absolutely. And we have a link on our website for donations. We take the cash donations happily, but there's also a need for materials, PVC pipe, for example, things along those lines. We can certainly utilize those items. Super. So Mary Beth, how about telling us about your Keiki program? It's fascinating. Thank you. Before I do that, I just want to give my shout out to the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, Pisces, whose acronym I could not remember earlier. I looked it up. I don't know what was speaking because they've done such a great job contributing that I wanted to make sure I got their name right. So the project that I've worked primarily on is called Keiki Heroes. And so it's again, it's an initiative that we worked with Dr. Craig Burger, Rebecca Choi, Noel, and Gail. And we noticed that there was a gap in when it came time to how were we getting ready for back to school. So these discussions began in June and there was quite a gap. And at the time, the Department of Education and none of the schools were really quite sure what the restart to school was going to look like. And so we first went with the solution that we were almost comfortable with, which was PPE. And we realized that we did not have the money to do that nor did we even really know what schools were going to need. So we looked for another niche. And what we noticed was a dearth of information that was directed directly towards Keiki. A lot of the websites that we were looking at was how to speak to Keiki. And that's not what we wanted. We wanted kids to be able to get the information but also have it framed in a much more positive way. So much of what we hear about COVID is you can't go play with your friends, you can't go to school, you can't, you can't, you can't, you can't. And so what we wanted to do was give Keiki a sense of power to empower them with behaviors that they could do. Wear a mask and what's the right way to do that? How to be a Keiki hero. And so that's wearing a mask, giving a shocker to say hi, social distancing, respect the bubble as we call it, and washing your hands. And so instead of having kids kind of spiral down on how to wash hands, most schools, I visit a lot of schools, everybody has a poster that says how to wash hands. Our poster focuses on when you should wash hands. So instead of washing them constantly, what are some really key times during a school day? And then everything was sort of thrown for a loop by all of our plans. And I'm by no means complaining because I'm not a teacher who had to quickly pivot from blended learning or face-to-face learning into a totally virtual environment like we see. But we were trying to figure out how do we now reach those students? How do we now reach those schools? And so we've distributed all of our materials free of charge. They're available for download on the Keiki Heroes website. And that was our first pass. And we printed them all in-kind printing between, you know, observatories, engineering firms in Hilo. We had, I think, almost every engineering firm in Hilo doing some in-kind printing for us. And yeah, it was great. And eventually we've moved into this really fabulous partnership that we have now with the county in vibrant Hawaii. Going out this week, I just dropped a whole bunch off at two schools in Waiman. Going out this week is a Keiki Heroes activity book that continues those lessons and focuses on our two Keiki Heroes, Kai and Hoku, who are cousins. And those were funded by the county of Hawaii and vibrant Hawaii. So all of the printing there. And then through our relationship with Christian Wong, the fire department is helping us distribute them. So what's been the response from the end user, the Keikis? Are they, do they like this program? Have you tried it out on them? We have. We actually just wrapped up two online social media contests with our sponsor KTA. And it was a coloring contest. So one of the students that we have working on the project, Jake Au, he did a lot of our initial graphic design work, as well as Yuko Green. So she's a noted Hawaii illustrator. You've probably seen her books. She's the one that really brought the Keiki Heroes to life. And so Jake had the idea of, well, if we just take all of the color out of one of these posters, it's a coloring sheet. So we've distributed a lot of coloring sheets to a lot of elementary schools. And we just wrapped up a coloring contest where Keiki could go and color and submit and win $20 gift cards from KTA. So it's been, the response has been great from not only teachers, principals, parents, and Keiki, but also the community as a whole. Yeah. And Mary Beth, you may want to comment on the volume of activity books. And I mean, it's an incredible number that we've had to produce and deliver. We just packaged 18,000. So it was a very fast turnaround. And all of the credit to that goes to, you know, the Keiki Heroes team, most notably Rebecca Choi, our project manager. We found out that we needed to have 18,000 finished and printed. And she found a printer for us. And they were delivered over the weekend. And Christian actually stored them in his van, the Hawaii Science Technology Museum van. And eight o'clock Monday morning, who we have us showed up at the Central Fire Station in Hilo, unpacked all of our Keiki Heroes materials, repacked them with the fire department's fire safety materials, as well as some coupons, and are now being distributed throughout the county. We ended up, I think, distributing about 17,000. We have some in reserve for preschools and other organizations that wouldn't be necessarily hit in the first pass. Through the partnership with Vibrant Hawaii, we're also finalizing a 16 to 20 page activity book that will be in their resilience hubs across the island as well. I also want to add that the materials are being translated. So we've got 10 or so languages, right? Mary Beth? That's our goal. Our goal is to have 10 languages translated. And we've got some great partnerships again, Vibrant Hawaii, the West Hawaii Community Health Center, who's offered to help us with some of those translations to really make sure that the materials get in the hands of underserved populations. Our rural communities, our Marshallese and Micronesian communities, and a wide variety of communities that thus far have been underserved to a certain extent. So what a great way to get the word out. I mean, have you approached the Department of Health? God knows they need some good publicity these days. And sounds like they've got about a zillion dollars that they haven't spent. We love to partner with the State Department of Health. We've been thus far a Hawaii county initiative, but you can give us a call, come to our website. We'd love to talk to the Department of Health team. It's a really grassroots effort that we've been careful to kind of roll out slowly, and that snowballed in like week two as the whole team knows. So and you know, without Dr. Berger, who's provided, you know, really critical instruction on what are some of the points that we can emphasize, that's how we narrowed our scope down in the first pass to a handful of really essential points. So what about the Department of Education? Are they happy to have these materials in your school? Did you have to run up against any bureaucratic speed bumps saying, oh, this is not approved, you know, curricula or whatever, you know, the normal stuff? It's not at all. So kudos to our castes on Hawaii Island because I, so I live and work in Waimea and I already had a really great relationship with Cass Snelling, who newly, newly took over the position and what a time to take that over in 2020. And so I just sent her an email and said, hey, we have these materials, here are some screenshots. Do you want to use them? And she was introducing them at principles and principal meetings and we got the same response across the, across the island. So our Department of Education on the Big Island, I work with them a fair amount in my capacity at CFHT and they have been a pleasure to work with and really embraced this as well as all of the Charter Schools, St. Joseph's School in Hilo was one of our very first schools. They started school on time in person on, I want to say August 4th and it was really important to us to get material to them because our, one of our college interns, his mom works there and his sisters go to school there. So shout out to the Owl family who were very, very early supporters and I think still are, are most enthusiastic hand models for hand washing videos. So what are the Waimea schools? Do they translate it into Native Hawaiian? We've not translated it into Hawaiian yet, but we are in the process of doing that. And as far as reaching out to Kamehameha schools, we've hit several of their preschools. Oh, excellent. And I'd like to, oh, sorry, go ahead Noel. Yeah, I just want to do a quick plug also because the materials are online and eventually all the translated versions will also be online. The, the information can be leveraged across the state and also in other regions, right? We talk about Micronesia, we talk about, you know, the Philippines, they can access the website, get, get to the downloads page and then download the information and have it utilized in their community. So the, the benefit of the work that's being done goes way, way beyond Hawaii Island. So if you could use the YouTube video you're going to get from Tech Hawaii, you could send this video out to various embassies and people like that so that they can send it to their countries and you know, spread the word. So that would be really good. So on that happy note, I've got to wind it up. Believe it or not, we've blown through 30 minutes. I really want to thank you. You've done a great job on this project. It's really good. I mean, there's nothing, I mean, obviously you love what you're doing and you're doing something that's really worthwhile and really good. I mean, like I said, I was blown away by that young lady who designed the advisor system. It was really well done. So I, I encourage everybody to go to the website. Can we throw up the last slide, which has the website address and then, but signing off. So if you want to come back, let us know and be happy to have you back. So aloha, this is Hawaii, the state of clean energy signing off.