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Making PPE for frontline staff using 3D printers
A group of makers in and around Bristol are working together to make NHS-approved personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.
Hack the Pandemic are using 3D printers to produce PPE for free for those in need, from nurses in intensive care units to workers in care homes.
Faiz Rahman was one of a core group of four people who began the group, which has now grown to more than 80 people in two weeks.
is needed now More than ever
“It’s literally just to help where we can,” says Faiz, who is in his fourth year of his mechanical engineering degree at the University of Bristol. “It’s not just the NHS, but many of the frontliners are under-equipped in terms of PPE.
“They just don’t have enough of them. Some, such as those in nursing homes, don’t even get them at all. So while everyone else is still trying to sort the pipeline out, we are just make these while we can, following the regulations.”
All of the equipment is made using 3D printers that members of the group have in their homes. A single design is used to keep all of the PPE the same, and then volunteers collect the equipment from the houses.
The team have recently been given access to a large hall in Emerson’s Green, which is used to test and clean all the equipment, before it is bagged and sent to frontline staff.
https://www.facebook.com/hackthepandemicUK/videos/1304837169906779/
Local gin distillery Psychopomp, based in Kingsdown, has donated medical grade alcohol to sanitise the PPE before its used, which has ensured that the team’s production of PPE is completely NHS compliant.
Hack the Pandemic also have a website, which people can use to sign up, if they have a 3D printer, donate to the cause and request PPE, for anyone working in the NHS, clinics, pharmacies, nursing homes and front line.
“Of course, we do this all for free, we don’t charge anyone,” says Faiz. “Initially we started out just with our money, but in the two weeks since we’ve started, we’ve received £7000 in donations. We use this to by the materials we need to keep printing.
Hack the Pandemic have been receiving lots of feedback from frontline staff, including two anaesthetists at a Bristol hospital who were “over the moon” with the 20 face masks delivered to them and Elizabeth Samways, self-employed carer who “very much appreciated” their “wonderful job”, as there has been no PPE allocated for people working for themselves.
Two anaesthetists at a Bristol hospital wearing 3D printed PPE
“We are no one special, we aren’t a company, we aren’t being paid to do this,” Faiz says. “We are just a group of people who met on Facebook for a common cause. Most of us don’t even know each other. We are just doing what we can, to help the real heroes who need it.”
Find out more at www.hackthepandemic.co.uk
All photos: Hack the Pandemic
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