A Prince George doctor and businessman have teamed up to create a network of 3D printers throughout the city, running 24/7, to produce Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.
That PPE is being donated both locally and shipped throughout Canada and the U.S.
Dan Broadfoot, who owns Hollywood Fabricating Ltd, has been using 3D printing technology for several years but for the last few weeks, he's been utilizing his six 3D printers to produce PPE.
He’s now received a ‘forgivable loan’ from the Métis Financial Corporation of B.C. (MFCBC) that will allow him to further double the group’s production capacity by purchasing more 3D printers and supplies.
“When I learned a few weeks ago that this major preoccupation of mine could help provide essential items for frontline workers in the fight against COVID-19 I did not hesitate to stand up,” says Broadfoot.
At first, he contacted several people to find out how he could help and eventually connected with Dr. Malgorzata Kamińska, who is an assistant professor with UNBC and UBC's Northern Medical Program.
Dr. Kamińska’s husband Richard already owned two 3D printers which he used to print educational models for her work teaching at the university.
“I was in medical school in Toronto when the SARS pandemic hit. I still remember we, in the health profession, worried about running out of PPE,” explains Dr. Kamińska.
“When the COVID-19 pandemic was starting to spread around the world it became a worry of mine that we in Canada would actually be running out of PPE again.”
That worry led her to look online and research what was needed and what items she could print that would meet medical standards for use.
Dr. Kamińska also connected with Dr. Erik Jensen at UNBC and the Two Rivers Gallery Maker Lab, who both had 3D printers, and were willing to help with production.
She says even with their help the requests that were coming in exceeded what they could produce.
“Demand still grew and we weren’t meeting it,” says Dr. Kamińska, adding that once she connected with Broadfood the group’s production capacity doubled overnight.
“Now we were not only able to provide things locally and provincially, but throughout Canada and the U.S,” says Dr. Kamińska, noting that everything is done free of any costs to the user.
Being a Métis entrepreneur, Broadfoot connected with MFCBC to see if they could help to increase production as the demand for these items continued to grow.
“The work he’s doing in the last couple weeks, providing free of charge essential medical supplies for the local and surrounding community is amazing,” says MFCBC’s CEO, Eric Salter. “We are glad and appreciative that we can support him.”
Dr. Kamińska added that MFCBC’s donation means that even more healthcare workers and first responders, both inside and outside the hospital, will be able to do their work more safely and comfortably.
Broadfoot and Dr. Kamińska have been producing items like ear savers, various kinds of face shields and masks, and even disposable stethoscopes.
“We started with ear savers because that was the most urgent then the shields came later as supplies started to dwindle — Where we see opportunities for help we try to think of products that could be helpful.”
Dr. Kamińska says as of this week, they’ve produced somewhere between three to four thousand pieces of equipment.
“Some weeks everyone is working 24/7 then there are a few days where we manage to catch up and produce a bit extra but it’s fairly constant,” says Dr. Kamińska.
“If there is a need beyond what Dan can acquire in terms of 3D printers, there is a broader network in Prince George that we could access.”
