A Louisiana Tech freshman is 3-D printing ear guards for medical personnel that’s helping to relieve pressure on the ears from the elastic bands on face masks. Mechanical engineering major Avereigh Barras says she got the idea after seeing a similar invention from a boy scout in Canada.
“I contacted a couple of my friends who were nurses and asked them if they would be interested in trying them and they did and they were like, ‘Oh, theses were amazing,’ and word has spread around and now it’s a lot bigger than I thought it would be,” said Barras.
With the contraption, the bands no longer touch the ears. The mask bands hook to the device behind the head. Barras says as of now, she’s created just over 1,600 and hopes to hit the 2,000 mark in the first two weeks of manufacturing.
“I’m sending them all over so I’m sent them to, I think, seven states, just to people who have contacted us, just enough for their clinic or their unit and I’ve sent them in bigger bulks to some bigger hospitals,” said Barras.
Barras recently started a GoFundMe campaign to help cover the cost of the shipping and manufacturing which she says has seen an abundance of support.
“Without those people and all of the money they had given, we would not be able to continue because the costs really do add up,” said Barras.