Coronavirus Update: Bergen County Teachers Band Together Making 3D Printed Face Shields For Health Care Workers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Even though health care workers are the bravest around, they're only human.
Only Superman is made of steel. But a group of public school teachers is working to shield them during the coronavirus pandemic.
Vinny Garrison may not be stitching together latex superhero costumes like the ones in movies, but he's making something much better - face shields for the real-world heroes: front line health care workers.
"During this crisis, they are the heroes – the nurses, the doctors," Garrison told CBS2. "They're literately in their face, because they have to be. They can't do the social distance. They have to be up in their face."
The middle school technology teacher is using 3D printers that were lent to him from a summer camp he works at to make the shields. He has 11 printers set up in his Bergen County garage.
"Each of these parts takes about two hours to print. There are easy to cut, laser cutters are super fast," he said.
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Garrison recruited a team of 11 to help him. Most of them are Tri-State Area public school teachers who work at Discover Camp with him.
Each stationed out of their own homes, they have 35 printers set up in six locations and regularly conference call about updates.
In just a week, the group made and delivered more than 600 shields. Help from a GoFundMe page called Shields for Our Heroes is financing their mission.
"The GoFundMe raised more than $25,000 in the first day," said Garrison.
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With face masks and other personal protective equipment depleting during the pandemic, the shields are needed now more than ever for front line workers.
"These keep everything off the N95 masks that the health workers wear, so that doesn't have to be replaced, they can use it for a longer amount of time," Garrison said.
Because of donations, Garrison and his team now have enough supplies to make 16,000 shields. They say as long as donations come in, shields will go out.
