By JIGGER J. JERUSALEM
Correspondent

MORE people and entities have pitched in their time and resources to help medical front liners here battle the coronavirus pandemic.

A group of entrepreneurs used their respective businesses to manufacture face shields, which they will donate to the health personnel at the Northern Mindanao Medical Center (NMMC).

The state-run NMMC has been designated to accommodate persons under investigations and those suspected of being infected with Covid-19 by the Department of Health-10 from Northern Mindanao and neighboring areas outside the region.

For Raven Duran, a 25-year-old entrepreneur who founded the information technology firm XDevs based here, contributing to the effort to combat the coronavirus is not difficult to do.

Duran said he joined a group of individuals who have organized themselves online to produce face shields and other items health personnel can use in taking care of persons under investigation and patients who have contracted the coronavirus.

At first, Duran said he wanted to manufacture 3D-printed ventilators, but opted instead to go into face shield production, as they are easier and faster to make.

“We have seen how hard our frontliners are working to stop the Covid-19 pandemic. At least they will have something to use to keep them safe,” he said.

Duran has hooked up with the CDO Makers Response Group, a loose collective of mostly young persons dedicated to producing materials for medical front liners, especially at the NMMC.

With his four 3D printers, Duran said he has begun producing face shields in his home mid-March.

He said it takes an hour and a half to make a face shield frame using plastic filament. The face shield is made up of a plastic frame and acetate.

“There are different designs, but our design is easy to make and it is also sturdy,” he added.

Duran said the materials for the face shield is being provided free by the Department of Trade and Industry, which gives out rolls of filament, and educational supply stores, which donate the acetates.

“We got a request from the NMMC for more than a thousand face shields. We aim to deliver that number,” Duran said.

On its Facebook page, CDO Makers Response Team posted that they have delivered 348 face shields to NMMC as of March 26.

“We are still fast-tracking our production speeds with the help of more 3D printing volunteers,” the group said.

The team said they are currently prioritizing NMMC for the production of face shield “as it is now the center of Covid-19 response in the region.”

John Vincent Fiel, 27, co-founder of Wela School Systems, a company that makes radio frequency identification system in learning institutions, said they are also making sure that the finished face shield is sanitized before turning them over the DTI.

Fiel said they soak the face shield frame in disinfectant as part of the protocol.

He said they are appealing to companies and schools who have the equipment to pitch in and help them produce face shields and other necessities for the health personnel.