Fight Coronavirus By Sewing Masks & 3D Printing

In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Divine Physician, says, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10). In order to help protect the lives of our healthcare workers and reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses in the Rochester region and New York State, some St. Alban's parishioners are trying to help organize two important groups of people: people with sewing machines to sew cloth masks and people with 3D printers who could print frames for PPE (personal protective equipment) face shields.  
 

Sewing Cloth Masks for Health Care Workers

Our St. Alban's Sewing Guild , which you can join here  via Flocknote, is sewing cloth masks following a pattern provided by the Cayuga Medical Association. These masks will be a back-up to non-hospital health care workers, and also be available to others who need them now the CDC recommends that everyone wear them. If you do not have a sewing machine, but would like to pitch in, you can join Sewing Guild and we can give you information on how to send materials to keep our sewing people busy making these masks. 

3D Printing PPE Frames

There is an Ithaca-based group that is 3D printing “frames” for full face shields. Frank Horowitz, husband of parishioner Pam Smith, is part of that effort which was profiled in this NPR piece, and some of our St. Alban's parishioners with 3D printers have joined in.

They are currently printing this design and slight variants thereof. They chose that design because Weill Cornell Medical Center (WCM) in NYC — now 100% a Covid-19 response hospital — requested them to.  WMC has estimated the need in NYC for full face shields as between 20,000-50,000 PER DAY.

Our Rochester area hospitals are also getting critically short of PPE for their medical workers. If you have a 3D printer, please join the Slack discussion group where everything that they are doing is happening.

Until private industry can be amassed to produce these items, every bit counts to help save lives. This is a true work of mercy and witness to the love of Jesus Christ for our brothers and sisters in the human family. May God bless you for your efforts and your prayers!

For more questions, please contact the parish clerk, Peter Smith at [email protected].