Prince George man 3D prints ‘ear savers’ for healthcare workers dealing with Covid-19

A local business owner is giving back to the frontline healthcare workers by using his 3D printer.

Andrew Toms is creating ‘ear savers’, a plastic band that helps hold the elastic loops of surgical masks away from the ears.

Healthcare workers across the world are wearing masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for long hours in the wake of COVID-19, and some have even developed open wounds behind their ears as a result.

“I bought my 3D printer in January to use with my penmaking because I turn pens. When the COVID cancellations came down, I started seeing youtube videos of how a lot of healthcare workers didn’t have enough PPE,” said Toms.

“I figured I have the equipment, I wanted to do something to help in a world right now that we otherwise have no control over.”

Toms works at Home Depot during the day and runs PBA Graphics, a home-based printing business in his spare time.

He read about a mask that could be 3D printed and began with those, before moving on to the ear savers.

Each printer can make six at a time, and each batch takes a little over an hour.

However, production doubled with the addition of a second printer.

Over 700 of the plastic bands have been printed by Toms so far, and he’s been giving them out to people he knows in the industry.

“I don’t want to charge our frontline people for these, because they are putting their lives on the line for us,” explained Toms.

What started out as a small project has gained considerable traction in Prince George.

Toms has orders from the newborn intensive care unit and several other departments at the University Hospital of Northern BC, as well as some senior homes.

“I’ve been delivering handfuls at a time so they can pass them off to other people in their departments and anyone else they run into who can use one!”