Months into the pandemic, PPE can still be difficult to come by. Just ask Tom Daguanno's sister, an ICU nurse.
"She would just tell me stories about reusing face shields that are supposed to be disposable," describes Daguanno, co-owner of MI Face Shields. "Reusing masks and that kind of stuff."
So to help out, he and some others began 3D printing face shields to meet the high demand. MI Face Shields now produces more than 30,000 reusable shields per week.
"You can take this at night, soak them, let them dry and they're totally sterile in the morning," explains Daguanno. "Wipe this down with a sterile solution or even just soap and water and you have a fresh product."
After providing shields to front line workers, the company now turns towards schools, where parents like Daguanno himself want their kids to be protected.
"I want to know that the teachers aren't going in being like yeah, well I don't have anything because they're not providing it" he says. "We definitely want to make sure the schools are covering everybody to make sure they're safe."
The Michigan-based company sells to school districts at a discounted rate across the country. Daguanno even says a few universities have reached out about the shields.
And while PPE remains hard to find, he says MI Face Shields will stay hard at work.
"As long as the need is still there, we're going to continue to be a part of it," says Daguanno.
Part of the company's proceeds also go toward COVID-19 relief efforts. If you would like to learn more about the face shields, click here.
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