The current pandemic of COVID-19 has managed to infect more than one million people and the healthcare workers are taking the brunt of it. You can actually witness the traces of their long shifts on their faces since they have to wear surgical masks at all times. That is where our savior, Boy Scout, comes in with his amazing invention.
The constant requirement of wearing protective surgical masks results in bruising and cutting the faces of medical staff. In order to combat the pain caused by surgical masks, a hospital in Canada reached out asking if anyone could help them with this issue. A design that has been modified by Ken Lord and a Boy Scout named Quin Callander has come to the rescue.
The Boy Scout turned entrepreneur has managed to 3D print numerous ‘ear guards’ that are available for free to anyone who owns a 3D printer. The design enables one to connect the straps from the mask and then elevates them to the back of the head. This leads to almost no rubbing of them against the wearer’s ears and head in a way that is painful.
The Boy Scout find the design on Thingiverse and 3D printed them. They went viral once his mom shared them on Facebook. Her post read, ‘Quinn answered a request from the local hospitals for help with creating more ‘ear guards’ to help take the pressure off health care workers’ ears from wearing masks all day. He got busy on his 3D printer and has been turning out dozens of ear guards to donate.’
The support that the project received on Facebook led Quinn’s mom to share the 3D printing file he used as well. The design on Thingiverse was shared by Ken Lord who had modified another design by someone else. Thanks to people sharing designs such as this, anyone can get their 3D printer running and copy the design for producing their very own ear guards for helping the local hospitals.
Ken Lord has created 1,675 ear guards and writes in an email, ‘I’m just one of many people contributing to the effort. The volunteer group I’m contributing to (the Vancouver Makers for Emergency Response and Support, or VMERS) has delivered around 4,000 of them. They have volunteers organizing requests, suppliers, and drivers. I was just lucky to have my file linked in Quinn’s amazingly viral Facebook post. Thanks to that my file has been downloaded around 35,000 times by people all over the world who are now making Ear Savers for their local healthcare workers.’