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 In
just four days, the New Jersey high school teacher has printed and
distributed 200 face shields to medical professionals across the
country, including Florida and Texas. He is far from done.
"One woman told me what you're doing right now is giving people
peace of mind. You're probably saving lives,” said Valera, who found
a shield design posted online.
Demand for face shields, along with N95-masks and other personal
protective equipment (PPE) has skyrocketed with the surge of
patients infected with the highly contagious virus. There were more
than 238,800 confirmed U.S. cases as of Thursday.
That has prompted volunteer 3D printers like Valera to step in to
support doctors, nurses and first responders, who are all in danger
of contracting the sometimes deadly illness.
Face shields help protect frontline-workers from potential
virus-containing droplets released by coughing, sneezing and other
close contact.
In Sunnyvale, California, community workspace nonprofit Maker Nexus
has been running its 13 3D printers and three laser cutters nonstop.
The company produced 1,800 masks for local hospitals and now has
requests for another 13,000.
General manager Eric Hess said 300 volunteers helped scour the
internet for raw materials to make the shields. They also reached
out to hospitals in need of PPE and printed the visors for the
shields.
“They're sitting at home. They're working from home, or they've been
laid off. This is a way that they can contribute,” said Hess, whose
company uses the open-source Prusa 3D printed shield design from the
Czech Republic.
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About 500 shields have gone to the nearby Santa Clara Valley Medical Center (SCVMC),
where officials estimate nurses use up to 15 PPE sets over three shifts for just
one patient.
Dr. Sanjay Kurani, SCVMC medical director, said as coronavirus cases increased
in the Bay Area, they quickly realized the hospital was burning through PPE
faster than it could source the equipment.
"Once we hit the surge, we could be in very critically low supplies," Kurani
said.
Elsewhere in Silicon Valley, more companies are joining in.
Fremont-based PrinterPrezz, a 3D-printing medical device contract manufacturer
that specializes in metal spinal implants, switched production to printing PPE
after getting a request from nearby Washington Hospital Healthcare System.
Snap Lab, a unit of Snap Inc, is also producing face shields to donate to
hospitals.
In New Jersey, Valera said he will continue to do his part.
“I don’t mind doing this," Valera said. "I just hate the fact that I have to.”
(Reporting by Nathan Frandino in Sunnyvale, California; Editing by Aurora Ellis
and Bill Berkrot)
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