Faculty and staff at Medicine Hat College have printed a prototype for a a face shield that can be used by physicians low on supplies to treat COVID-19 patients.--PHOTO COURTESY MHC TWITTER
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
Faculty at Medicine Hat College have heeded a call to use 3D printing as a means of creating medical supplies for the COVID-19 crisis.
They created a prototypical face shield to prevent the spread of coronavirus in response to a tweet from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, calling on institutions of higher learning to assist in ameliorating the pandemic.
“To every university, college, polytechnic and CEGEP in the country: We need your expertise and your resources,” Trudeau wrote Tuesday. “If you have masks and ventilators we can use, or if you think you can help with things like 3D printing of medical supplies, let us know.”
Trades instructor Merl Mayer tells the News they got the idea for the face mask from Tarek Loubani, a London, Ont., doctor who runs the Glia Project, an international charity that creates 3D-printed medical supplies.
Loubani released his designs for the equipment online to assist his others preparing for the pandemic.
“It’s actually quite simple,” says Mayer. “The design that was online is a file the 3D printer can read. We have a very good technician at the college and he tweaked the design a little bit to potentially make it a little more usable and easier to print.”
Printing in 3D involves a process called “additive manufacturing,” he said.
“This prints on a sheet, but it prints plastic, layer after layer after layer until the product is built,” explained Mayer.
He says it’s unclear at this point how many of these masks will be printed at MHC, but the college is prepared to produce as many as necessary.
At this point, Alberta Health Services says it’s not short of any medical supplies, but that could change quickly, like everything else during the pandemic.
“We are waiting for the government to tell us what to do,” said Mayer. “We’re ready.”
