We all know how important PPE is right now and what an incredible job this equipment has done to help protect us from COVID-19. Some of our caregivers rely on air-purifying respirator helmets to safeguard them against contaminated air. However, when some of the small mount clips that hold the face shield in place started break, it meant the helmets were out of use until they could be repaired.
They were sent down to Clinical Engineering, but the tiny clips needed to hold the shields in place and seal the outside atmosphere from the user were backordered. The longer we had to wait, the longer our caregivers had to go without our full supply of this critical PPE.
Using Thoughtful Anticipation and Creative Vitality, Clinical Engineering began looking at other options. Dave Reed and Fernanda Zamudio collaborated with Dave Turnbull in Materials Management, who reached out to San Juan College to see if the 3D printer at The Big Idea @ SJC Makerspace could help. They gave the college one of the mount clips to scan to see what they could do. A day later, the new parts had been created and they were able to quickly repair the helmets. Since then, the college has tweaked its design to perfect the clip and has printed more than 50 of these parts. It’s making a big difference in our ability to make sure our caregivers have the PPE they need.