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Meet Ms. Parr
Brianna Parr, a second-year graduate student in public health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), works closely with NSRI Fellow Dr. Elizabeth Beam on the “Beam Helmet,” a project creating a powered air purifying respirator (PAPR). Funded by the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) corps of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the University of Nebraska Collaboration Initiative, the helmet will be a much-needed solution for keeping healthcare workers safe, especially those working in austere conditions such as military medics.
Q&A
What do you find most interesting about the project with Dr. Beam?
From a research standpoint, I would say that what I find most interesting about this project with Dr. Beam is the collaboration of multiple disciplines. This collaboration is necessary to create a product that will best benefit the potential client. To research and analyze our current helmet prototype, we have worked with biomechanical engineers, multiple branches of the military, folks in all sorts of clinical spaces, business and marketing professionals, and containment unit specialists, just to name a few. All these perspectives are necessary to use in our research as well as in our risk analysis of the helmet being made. Dr. Beam has found a gap in healthcare professional safety and people are ready for it to be filled.
Ms. Parr (left) with Dr. Beth Beam (center) and Dr. Sarah Dunsmore at the Davis Global Center Open House at the University of Nebraska Medical Center on December 15, 2023.
What have you learned from your contributions on this project? What makes this project so exciting?
With my background at the UNMC Global Center for Health Security, I was able to understand the shortcomings of personal protective equipment (PPE) that is currently being used by many U.S. Public Health Officers, military members and healthcare workers across the country. Most of the time, user safety and comfort are not prioritized — patient safety and efficiency are. Although we still need to prioritize these factors, we need to do so in tandem with the protection of the ones who deliver healthcare and safety services. These individuals need the safety and protection they deserve while they work to help others.
This project is exciting for multiple reasons. It is so incredible to have the opportunity to work on a marketable and necessary healthcare product that eventually can be used by so many. It is exciting to see how much this helmet prototype means to so many people. I have been able to speak directly with those who have worn powered air-purifying respirators in the past, especially during COVID-19, and now understand that many had negative experiences. Through this project, we are finally seeing priority being put on the well-being and safety of healthcare workers, which has been neglected for far too long.
What is your role in the Global Center for Health Security?
My role at the UNMC Global Center for Health Security was a graduate assistant for the Public Health Service (PHS) Deployment Safety for Field Experience (D-SAFE) Program. The D-SAFE program trained U.S. Public Health Officers on how to correctly and safely deploy to a clinical or austere environment that is dealing with an infectious disease and threatened biosecurity. Specifically, I worked to set up each training session and make sure the logistics flowed smoothly. Through this position I was able to learn so much about PPE and how it is used differently when dealing with a highly infectious disease. Specifically, I learned about PAPR helmets and how they were used by healthcare workers. I was also able to see Public Health Officers don and doff these helmets. This training was the perfect set-up for the work I am currently doing with Dr. Beam.
Dr. Beam’s project focuses specifically on creating a loose-fitting PAPR helmet, both for clinical and austere conditions, that is designed for the comfort, efficiency, and safety of the user. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it quickly became clear that these factors were not prioritized in PAPRs that frontline healthcare workers across the country were wearing. Since I was able to work with these PAPRs daily, I was able to understand how they worked and their potential shortcomings. Beyond this, I learned the importance of biosecurity and how, if we want to maintain biosecurity, we must first and foremost protect those who maintain it for us.
Ms. Parr and Drs. Beam and Dunsmore tour the Strategic Air & Space Museum with Clayton Anderson January 15, 2024 where he showed the suits he wore while in space.
How have your goals changed since working on this project to help healthcare workers and the military?
When I initially decided to go into graduate school for my master’s in public health, my primary goal was to focus on public health policy. After finishing my bachelor’s in public health, I thought that one of the best ways I could make a difference in population health was through the policy-making process. Although I still believe this and enjoy policy-related research, working with Dr. Beam has shown me a new side of public health that I had not researched before.
A lot of my graduate courses tend to focus on public populations, but what I have realized is that healthcare workers and the military are communities that need public health outreach just as much as any other. Being able to talk with military personnel and healthcare workers across multiple fields has truly opened my eyes to what my public health goals can be. I have grown an incredible interest in the sector of emergency preparedness because of my work with Dr. Beam. So much so that I am actively working towards becoming an Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at a state level.
What is the grander purpose of this project?
It is important to protect those who work daily to protect our nation. This project has strengthened my sense of patriotism as I have learned what individuals in national defense have gone through, specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic. My passion for protecting these individuals through correct and feasible safety measures has increased exponentially.
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About the National Strategic Research Institute
Through the National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska leading scientists deliver innovative national security research, technology, product and strategy development, training and exercises, and subject matter expertise to the Department of Defense and other federal agencies. One of only 15 DOD-designated University Affiliated Research Centers in the country, NSRI is sponsored by U.S. Strategic Command and works to ensure the United States’ safety and preparedness against increasingly sophisticated threats. Read about our mission.
