LIVERPOOL, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — A Liverpool couple is at the forefront of protecting Onondaga County’s medical professionals right from their own home by 3D printing shields.
Isaac Budmen and Stephanie Keefe make and sell custom products from their 3D printers in their home, but they’ve temporarily put the business on pause to make shields for those who work at the Onondaga County testing site.
It all started about a month ago when suppliers in China started going out of business and giving people, like Stephanie and Isaac, the heads up about it and that COVID-19 might be coming to the U.S.
“I think it was about Saturday we came up with the idea and Sunday we made a couple of prototypes, and then Monday it was all hands on deck we started printing,” said Keefe.
Each one takes about an hour to make, and with 10 3D printers, they’re pushing them out as fast as they possibly can.
“This is how the healthcare department receives them. Then they take one of these sheets out and just pop it on into four places, you pull the strap around the back of their head, there’s a nice little foam strip in there so it’s comfortable and you’re good to go,” said Budmen.
They’ve already pumped out 200 shields since they started making them Monday, and they’re not stopping there.
The overall goal isn’t just to take care of our community but to go a step further.
“We’re also collecting information of people in their localities who are willing to 3D print them on machines that they have,” said Budmen. “Our goal is to connect everybody so that if there’s a hospital in Missouri and there’s somebody with a bunch of 3D printers in Missouri, we can pull em together they can use the files we created and just start making them right there as fast as they can.”
Trying to flatten the curve with each shield they print.
Budmen says they’re donating the first 50 shields and the county is picking up the cost of the rest.
Right now, they’re collecting email addresses for hospitals and healthcare clinics across the country. Click here if you wish to help.
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For more local news follow Nicole Sommavilla on Twitter/NeSommavilla.
