INSTEAD OF PRODUCING BEATS THESE DJS ARE SAVING HEARTBEATS.
As the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world, health workers have become crucial on the front line of this crisis. A shortage of proper protective equipment have become problematic for many hospitals around the country. I spoke with two admirable DJs in NYC and Orlando, who have taken action and showing their kindness to help meet the needs of our healthcare heroes and first responders by making face shields and face mask extenders using 3D-printing.
Over the past 3 weeks Jeric Linga, aka “DJ MIXNYC” and owner of JLinga Customs LLC , has now donated and delivered over a thousand face shields and mask extenders to a few hospitals in New Jersey and Connecticut, as well as, all over New York, including Elmherst hospital, which is one that has been hit the hardest with COVID-19 cases, seeing over 20+ deaths a day on average now. Linga said the idea sparked while while watching the news. He then went to Elmherst hospital at the epicenter and asked them if they were low on face shields and they said “yes!” without any hesitation. It then hit Linga further when he saw an elderly being brought in on a stretcher suffering from the virus and it reminded him of his Grandma and said to himself, “I want to help and I can do this.” He started with 2 3D-printers and now owns 8 as the demand increased. “My DJ table is now full of printing machines,” says Linga.
Each shield takes 1 hour and 20min to make and the front plastic shield is removable, so the workers can change it out at end of day and put a fresh one on. The head strap is adjustable and plastic as well so it’s easy to sanitize after every use. With the help of a few select people and the QSC (Queens Subaru Club) , they deliver them to the hospitals, fire and police stations that are in need.
- DJ MIXNYC with the Safety Director, CEO, and other head hospital staff.
“It’s heartbreaking to hear them cry and tell me that they don’t have the PPE they need it’s so sad and horrible. We are at war right now…you can’t send your army in war without any weapons.” In addition, Linga also custom created his own pink mask strap extenders that help relieve the pain that can happen around the ears from long term use of face masks.
- Heart – represents People
- Heart beat – represents Life
- Star – represents our healthcare workers because they are Rockstars
- Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness
If you would like to help Linga with the material costs, you can donate money to his GoFundMe.
Down the Eastern coast in Orlando, David Meister, Founder and Entertainment Director of Meister Productions and Owner of Stages Plus, is also hard at work producing face mask extenders for healthcare workers. “My wife Kait and I have a friend who works in healthcare and shared a post online about someone printing these extenders to help relieve the tension of wearing a mask all day. I saw that and absolutely knew we could do the same thing and help people locally,” says Meister.
Meister had been 3D printing as a hobby for a little over a year, using one machine to build small projects in his spare time. It took him a lot of time tinkering with the machine to figure out the optimal method for the extenders. “I started printing 5 at a time at a medium quality, but it was taking about 4 hours. I’ve spent a lot of time playing with the settings and now have it dialed in producing 6 extenders every 3 hours…around the clock! I’m actually setting a time to make sure that the machine is running as close to 24 hours per day as possible (even overnight). I can produce about 250/wk with my one machine,” says Meister.
He has received amazing response from people since making the post online about it and has been able to deliver some to a few hospitals, medical facilities, and even funeral homes who are all wearing masks daily. Meister created an Etsy listing to take orders and offer the ability for anyone to purchase and ship anywhere. Then he is donating one for each extender that gets purchased. “For every order, I’m going to double it and give the rest away to hospitals around me.” Meister says. “I have received enough orders to provide almost 1,000 of these already! Now it’s just a matter of producing them and getting them out to our network of medical personnel.”
If you would like to purchase the extenders, you do so here. Or if you would like to donate money towards the production/materials cost, you can Venmo your donation to @meisterproductions.
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