Athens Man 3D-Printing PPE to Help Local Hospitals

By Benjamin Cox on May 26, 2020 at 10:36am

An Athens resident is using his 3D printer to help local hospitals deal with PPE shortages. 31 year old Casey Primm of Athens has been using his 3D printer in his home office almost non-stop to create more than 1,300 pieces of personal protective equipment for local health-care workers. He donated most of the plastic items — 800 “ear-savers” and 100 face shields — to Memorial Health System. Primm normally uses the printer as a technical support representative for a banking technology company.

Primm said he used designs that he downloaded from the National Institutes of Health website. He said he spent $375 on materials, which included the clear plastic he attached to plastic headbands produced on the 3D printer to complete the face shields. Ear-savers make it more comfortable for health-care workers to wear medical-grade masks for hours at a time. Face shields are used, in combination with N95 masks, to protect workers in certain situations as they care for patients infected with the COVID-19 virus or suspected of being infected.

Erin Bromley, Memorial Health System’s administrator for supply chain, said workers caring for patients have been grateful for the 3D-printed PPE donated by Primm and other individuals and organizations in central Illinois and beyond. She says bout 5,000 3D-printed pieces of PPE have been donated to the system during the pandemic.