A group of ‘Makers’ with the help of ReVital Polymers is making 3-D printed face shields in the fight against COVID-19 in Lambton County, Ontario

April 24, 2020

A group of community members and the businesses they work for, in Lambton County, Ontario have come together to create face shields and they are giving them away for free to front line health care workers in the community.

“I have a friend who is an EMT and he asked me to help him create a face shield,” explains Andrew White, Director of Process Improvement, Automation and Engineering at ReVital Polymers. “I used my 3-D printer to create the headpiece and plastic sheets for the shield. Before I knew it, I had 100 of these face shields created.”

Andrew later joined a Facebook group called, “Lambton County Makers Against Covid.” The group of 30 community members set a goal last weekend to produce 1,000 face shields in two days. They ended up creating 1,800 face shields that are already being used by health care workers in Lambton County.

“I talked to Emmie Leung, CEO of ReVital Polymers about this project. I told Emmie I was using my own 3-D printer, but another and larger 3-D printer would really help us out,” explains Andrew. “Emmie was so excited and proud of what the makers' group is doing and wanted ReVital to contribute by buying a larger printer and all the supplies we needed to support this initiative.”

And, through ReVital Polymer’s industry partnerships, it brought on Dart Container, a company that manufactures foodservice packaging to donate a 1,300-pound roll of clear plastic for the visors. “This was really important. The group never thought we would get a donation like this,” adds Andrew. “It will go a long way.”

The group of makers is delivering these face shields to health care workers, free of charge. You can follow the group and offer your support through their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LCMACovid/.

 

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