Along with the health care workers, delivery drivers, grocery store employees and many others being celebrated for their efforts on the front lines of the coronavirus outbreak, save some applause for the 3D printing enthusiasts.
Champions of the innovative technology have been making masks, mask parts, ventilator parts and more in the weeks since supply shortages became a growing concern for those in need of vital medical equipment.
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The latest example of someone stepping up to help craft what’s needed comes from Seattle Children’s.
The hospital was concerned that its stock of Controlled Air Purifying Respirator (CAPR) helmets was showing signs of wear and tear, especially as it related to small plastic clips that secure the face shield onto the helmet.
As part of the hospital’s personal protective equipment, the helmets are critical for providers giving care to infectious patients.
Seth Friedman, Seattle Children’s manager of Innovation Imaging & Simulation Modeling, was able to model the clips that had been breaking. He reverse engineered them by doing what he would do if creating a 3D model for a patient’s surgery — he used a CT scanner.
After scanning an original plastic clip, Friedman used a 3D imaging software product from Materialise to create a prototype of the clip and by the next morning he tested one of the prototypes in a CAPR helmets.
“It’s our own tiny Cinderella story, because they fit,” Friedman said in news release.
Friedman then connected with the 3D printing team at Stratasys, who offered to fulfill a large order, and within 12 hours, two batches of the four pieces needed were printed, cleaned and on their way to Seattle Children’s.
“With help from an imaging software system typically used for anatomical models and those with 3D printing capabilities, we found an out of the ordinary solution to ensure this equipment for protecting staff and serving our most vulnerable patients stays in commission,” Friedman said.
Others on the Innovation Imaging team have also worked on replacement face shields for the helmets. The plan is to provide open source copies of the digital files for all the prototypes they create, so that other hospitals won’t have to go through the prototyping process if they need the parts, according to Children’s.
For questions about 3D printing and modeling, please contact stratasyshelps@stratasys.com or medical@materialise.com.
