The Levittown Public Library is leading a coalition of libraries across Long Island to repurpose its 3D printers into personal protective equipment (PPE) generators, and donating the results to local hospitals, volunteer ambulance corps and fire departments.
“We saw that there was a need and we had the equipment to help,” Steve Dalton, president of the Nassau Library System Board of Trustees, said. “This pandemic is a time for all of us to pitch in and do our part to help those on the frontline battling this virus.”
The Levittown Library has already delivered dozens of PPE to the county-run Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC), and as new face shields come off the line, they will be dispersed to the hospital, the Wantagh Levittown Volunteer Ambulance Corps., and the local Fire Department.
“I am proud to work with the Levittown Public Library to make sure our doctors, nurses, healthcare workers, and first responders who are on the front lines of this outbreak, have the equipment they need to make it home safe at the end of their shift,” added Nassau Legislator John Ferretti. “This is just another example of our community coming together to help one another when it matters the most.”
“We are grateful to Legislator Ferretti for helping us identify the need at the county hospital and for cutting through the red tape to get this equipment to the people who need it,” said Trina Reed, Director of the Levittown Library.
Libraries are continuing to refine the models of PPE printed, but the two primary models generated are approved by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), take a little over an hour to print, and are worn to protect droplets from coughing, sneezing, breathing, or blood droplets from hitting a worker’s face mask, eyes, or skin on their face. Currently, a dozen libraries in Nassau County have turned on 3D printers to make PPE. Suffolk County libraries have similarly donated their 3D printers to safeguard first responders.
“Almost 1,000 face shields have been completed across Long Island and we will continue printing as long as we have the supply of filament and as long as the need is there,” concluded Dalton.
