Spring 2020: MUSC RSCS Drive Through Testing Site Official Documentation
As many drastic changes occurred due to the effects of COVID-19 on our daily life, our studio in Spring 2020 was not excluded. Because of constraints put in place which effectively kept us from being able to meet in person, our goal of being able to construct projects on the West Ashley Greenway for the Charleston Parks Conservancy was indefinitely postponed. In its place, we were met with a new challenge, one which demanded a sharp pivot towards an important documentation project. This project was in collaboration with the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), and involved our studio making a 60+ page official document which recorded the layouts and protocols within their main drive through respiratory specimen collection site. Our documentation involved drawings, illustrations, charts, lists, etc., which were shared with other hospitals in the region to help elucidate the specifics that allowed their testing site to operate relatively smoothly and efficiently. Being able to share this information among the medical community helps other hospitals see key details that they could learn and even improve upon, while also helping build credibility for MUSC in regards to their coronavirus testing sites. To read more about what MUSC says about the project and watch a video featuring interviews of our very own David Pastre, Justin Acevedo, Courtney Wolff, and Ryan Bing, click here.
Spring and Summer 2020: Walk-up Testing Site Designs and Testing Booths
Much of the success of MUSC’s drive through site has to do with their layout and the efficiency of patient flow throughout the site. Learning from their site while documenting it, we took more steps forward in using their principles of site management to apply those towards theoretical walk-up testing sites. Testing booths were also designed, to decrease the amount of PPE burn by the healthcare workers, thus saving money for MUSC. One particularly innovative design made it to fruition and is going through testing at the Citadel (August of 2020). This model takes advantage of the durability, affordability, and portability of *brand new* porta-potty shells and calls for modifications to certain panels so that a window and glow ports enable a clinician to safely sit on the inside and swab patients to collect samples for testing. Much of the work was continued on the design and build of this booth into the summer of 2020 with help by Justin Acevedo, Ryan Bing, and alum of the Clemson CommunityBuild program, Audrey Hesson.
The Drive Through Testing project was published with international recognition. The project book can found here, MUSC Drive Up Tester, and an article discussing the project can be found here.
Team: Ryan Bing, Jeremy Eaton, Mohamed Fakhry, Courtney Wolff, Claire McManus, Henry Lee III, Luke Gibson, Steve Kurtz, Will Poynor, Danny Holmes, Andrew Matthews, Justin Acevedo