Athens Resident Donates 3D-printed Personal Protective Equipment To Memorial Health System
Posted on Thursday, May 21, 2020
Casey Primm wanted to do his part to help people on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he had a 3D printer. So he got to work.
The Athens man ran his printer in his home office almost nonstop for a month to create more than 1,300 pieces of personal protective equipment for local health-care workers. He donated most of the plastic items — 800 “ear-savers” and 100 face shields — to Memorial Health System.
“Making any sort of difference is what matters,” said Primm, 31, who works as a technical support representative for a banking technology company.
Primm said he used designs that he downloaded from the National Institutes of Health website. He said he spent $375 on materials, which included the clear plastic he attached to plastic headbands produced on the 3D printer to complete the face shields.
Ear-savers make it more comfortable for health-care workers to wear medical-grade masks for hours at a time. Face shields are used, in combination with N95 masks, to protect workers in certain situations as they care for patients infected with the COVID-19 virus or suspected of being infected.
Erin Bromley, Memorial Health System’s administrator for supply chain, said workers caring for patients have been grateful for the 3D-printed PPE donated by Primm and other individuals and organizations in central Illinois and beyond. About 5,000 3D-printed pieces of PPE have been donated to the system during the pandemic, she said.
“When a community member can help create and manufacture what we need, it’s extremely helpful to take the stress off of that supply chain,” Bromley said. “We’ve had a lot of departments ask to send them the ear-savers, so they are popular with the employees.”