By Meryl Feld
Editor
A team of local high school students is supplying healthcare workers across the country with free 3D-printed face shields and other personal protective equipment. FreePPEKC has raised nearly $3,300, allowing them to donate over 2,300 face shields.
FreePPEKC was founded by two recent high school graduates, Ethan Jagoda, a senior at Blue Valley North and Aaditya Pore, a senior at Olathe East.
The idea for FreePPEKC stemmed from a conversation between the two looking for ways to stay busy and make a difference. Jagoda and Pore wrote on their GoFundMe page, “Healthcare workers are the frontline against this disease, and many currently face a severe lack of the most important protections. One of these protections, face shields, are especially vital to nurses and doctors because by working in conjunction with masks, they protect against airborne fluids and droplets.”
“We had heard about students 3D-printing face shields across the country before,” Jagoda told The Chronicle. Pore had 3D-printing experience. “We realized this is a really good way to make an impact because in Kansas City we didn’t have any groups like that at the time.”
“We wanted to make more of an impact than someone who has a printer and prints.” So they did.
They set up a network of 3D-printers, allowing them to print more than an individual person could. They currently have 16 3D-printers in their network. FreePPEKC supplies the fulfillment — the plastic the 3D printer uses — which can get pricey. Some people in their printing network they knew personally. Others they were connected with.
“We actually raised a lot more than we thought we were going to be able to… When we first got started, in the matter of a couple days we were between $700 and $800,” Jagoda said.
The founders of FreePPEKC also used part of the donations to buy a 3D printer for each of them to run, which has allowed them to experiment with printing settings. The remainder of the money has gone to purchasing filament for the 3D-printers.
You can buy their face shields for $5 each. That money goes toward creating more face shields for healthcare workers. Pick-up and shipping are available. Depending on where you live, delivery may be an option, too.
The majority of what they have raised through GoFundMe goes toward the costs of the filaments. “It’s about 17 cents per headband. It adds up,” Jagoda said.
The teens got the original file for printing the headbands from a digital 3D-printing community. They have tweaked and tinkered with the design and printer settings though. They are working on decreasing printing time, as well as reducing the margin of error that is common with 3D-printing. The plastic shields come premade.
FreePPEKC has a form they send out to hospitals and healthcare facilities that are in need of PPE. They prioritize the orders based on need. “There was a rural hospital that was out of PPE, because rural hospitals in general are not as well funded… It’s really just about the urgency that they need it at,” Jagoda said.
FreePPEKC is not charging healthcare facilities for the face shields, but welcome donations. Hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies, retirement communities, assisted living facilities and a domestic violence shelter are among the facilities to receive FreePPEKC donations.
FreePPEKC is expanding their efforts. “We’ve been continuing to grow out of network. Just recently we got a laser printer. And what we’re going to do with that is, we want to expand the product line. So right now we’re just making face shields, but just recently we started making ear savers… They go around the back and protect people’s ears from the elastic bands of the masks. It’s something that’s very helpful for healthcare workers who are wearing masks for eight hours on end.”
They hope to have 800 ear savers made this week. They are also working on printing door openers, which allows people to open doors without touching the handle.
How can you help? “We’re always looking for more people with 3D printers and then there’s even just distribution. We’re looking for more healthcare facilities to donate to,” Jagoda said, “We’re looking not only for donations. The community helps in every stage.”
“We’re just trying to help out as many people as possible. We’re trying to see that impact,” Jagoda said.
To learn more or get involved visit FreePPEKC.org. You can donate on their GoFundMe page at https://gf.me/u/x42hn6. You can also check out their Instagram page @freeppekc to stay updated on their efforts.
Jagoda plans to attend UC Berkley next year — majoring in engineering physics. He is involved with the Nordaunian chapter of BBYO. He grew up attending Congregation B’nai Jehudah.
