Over the past few weeks, we have seen a score of Bradford residents helping to get front-line Personal Protective Equipment to help fight the spread of COVID-19.
Bradford resident Adrian Dieleman, along with a few friends from his church, Sovereign Grace Church in Bradford, have just started making PPE using a 3D printer.
Dieleman was inspired to make equipment after hearing from a friend whose daughter works at Southlake and noted PPE was limited, with staff often having to reuse masks or sometimes go without.
“I just wanted to do whatever I could right away,” he said.
Dieleman started off with making ear guards for nurses that he got in touch with through connections at his church. He and his friends made 60 ear guards for a group of nurses at Mackenzie Health in Richmond Hill, and 195 for another group at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto.
Shortly after their first order, Dieleman joined Project Northern Lights, a Canadian volunteer initiative for those looking to help make PPE equipment. Dieleman and his friends fill orders sent from Northern Lights, which are then distributed to facilities in need across the country.
So far they have been creating both face shields and ear bands in one package for front-line workers.
“They (Northern Lights) give all kinds of instructions on sanitizing them, you have to submerge them in 10 percent bleach solution, for 10 minutes, you have to air dry them and put them in a sealed poly bag, label it,” he explained.
Their first order of face shields just shipped last week to three shelters in the Greater Toronto Area. Dieleman is a mechanical engineer and uses his 3D printer normally for work, but also has his own personal 3D printer for small personal projects.
“I’ve made a bunch of phone holders for Facetiming, just little fun stuff,” he said. “So I am using my own printer for these orders for the PPE and I’m looking to see if there is some availability from the company’s printers, they have three, to be able to increase the capacity.”
While Dieleman makes the PPE, his friends assemble and sanitize them before he packages them for distribution. To keep with best social distancing practices, he can only have a few friends over at a time to help with the process.
He said Project Northern Lights were highly interested in working with Dieleman because he was providing “full package” PPE, including not just the face shields but the ear bands.
“Most of their other suppliers are only making one part of it,” he said.
So far, Dieleman has paid for all the materials out of his own pocket, around $300.
“Right away I had a lot of people volunteer to help bear the cost of the materials,” he said.
He said coworkers, church friends and family have all offered to help cover the costs of materials to keep him going.
“Lots of people want to help or contribute in any way."
The Project Northern Lights initiative gives all volunteers the option to choose where their PPE goes, to either hospitals or shelters. So far, Dieleman has not had a preference and said he just wants them to go wherever they are needed.
Moving forward, he said he wants to help provide to local health care facilities like Bradford Valley Care Community or Southlake Regional Health Centre. He also wants to purchase more printers if he is able to get more funding to help increase output.
“This was the first and easiest opportunity so I think I would definitely want to supply PPE locally,” he said.
He said the group is learning a lot from the Project Northern Lights initiative in terms of processes and sanitation procedures.
“And I think we could take those lessons and apply them in our own endeavours and supply local needs,” he said. “We’ll see what happens in the future.”
Dieleman is still working full time and is making the PPE during his spare time, a few days a week.
“So I’ve been busy,” he said. “It’s working out.”
