The lack of protective equipment for assistants, nurses, doctors, intensivists and other medical workers in Spain and all of Europe and other countries is exposing healthcare workers to increased risk of infection, which in turn endangers patients, who could be infected by doctors or nurses from the Covid-19 virus.
Faced with this extraordinary pandemic situation, the professionals at BCN3D, a Barcelona-based manufacturer of desktop 3D printers, are helping. The company’s Farm of 63 3D printers is printing face shields for the hospitals and administrations with scientific rigor to fight the virus.
In the last few days, more than fifty hospitals and primary care centers in the province of Barcelona and other areas of Catalonia and other regions in Spain have responded to this campaign by requesting masks or protective visors like face shields for the health workers.
Since last week, BCN3D The Farm 3D printing has been printing 3D protective visors that are fastened with a transparent acetate screen and a rubber back fixture. BCN3D has already distributed more than 4,000 3D face shields to the following Spanish hospitals:
● Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Barcelona (60 face shields)
● Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol de Badalona (Can Ruti) (50 face shields)
● Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Sant Boi de Llobregat (30 face shields)
● Hospital Antoni Lleuger de Gimbernat de Cambrils (30 face shields)
● CAP Roquetas de Barcelona (30 face shields)
● CAP Río de Janeiro de Barcelona (40 face shields) (first photo in this release)
● Hospital de Viladecans (15 face shields)
● Hospital Virgen de los Lirios de Alcoy (Alicante) (50 face shields)
● Hospital de Granollers (45 face shields)
● CUAP Castelldefels (30 face shields)
● Clínica Tomás Boix de Olot (Girona) (15 face shields)
A total of 4,000 face shields are expected to be delivered at the end of April, 2020. Each one of the printed visors has been validated by the hospital centers so that they can be reused.
The first design has been validated by hospitals and these have assured BCN3D that the 3D printed models meet the safety criteria so that they can be reused (they are disinfected daily with geek + water and soap). For example, among the specialists who will use the 3D printed face shields with protective screens are radiotherapists who perform chest X-rays, among other specialists.
Among the centers that have received the material, the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu in Barcelona stands out, which is committed to being an innovative health center and has played a role in coordinating, supporting and validating the BCN3D’s protective face screen model as a safety measure against coronavirus infection.
Arnau Valls, coordinator of the 3D printing unit of the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Barcelona, highlights that “in the current situation, in which adult or general hospitals are treating the highest volume of patients by COVID-19, our role is to support and collaborate with all our means in the management of the coronavirus crisis, in this case, from the innovation in 3D printing of medical material.”
BCN3D Technologies
bcn3d.com
