Dr. Desjardins displays how the straps work with the masks. (Facebook/Darrell Farley)

By Mat Barrett

Helping Local Health Care Workers

‘Super easy, and super helpful’: Melfort residents creating mask straps for local health care workers

Apr 14, 2020 | 2:00 PM

You’ve likely seen the posts on social media about people across the world making straps for masks that health care workers are wearing now more than ever during COVID-19.

There are now some people in Melfort who have jumped on board to help out and print their own straps for workers in the northeast.

Brett Farley lives in Melfort and is a mechanic by day, but does 3D printing by night. Farley said he decided to make some after he saw a social media post about it.

“My dad asked if I could do it,” Farley said. “And I said ‘why not’ and I’ve just been printing these straps. My sister-in-law is a doctor so we got her to test them out to see what they’re like and she says they work good.”

Farley said with some family members working on the front lines right now as doctors, he felt it was important to do his part. He said after hearing his sister-in-law couldn’t be in contact with her family after a day at work, the idea clicked into place.

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“It just kind of hit home when that whole thing happened,” Farley told northeastNOW. “I didn’t want them to have to worry about their ears hurting, so I figured if I could make these and take one more thing off their minds and leave them just to pay attention to what they need to do with their jobs.”

The process for making the straps is pretty simple according to Farley. He said once he gets home from work, the printer gets turned on. Farley said about five of them are made in a 90-minute stretch, but he said it’s less than a minute of time he actually has to be at the printer.

Farely said the cost for him to make them is actually less than 10 cents per unit, and one roll of filament (what is used to make the straps) costs less than $20 per roll. Farley said he’s likely to get “thousands” of straps out of one roll.

“Anybody that has a 3D printer can, and should be doing this,” he said. “It’s a super easy thing, and it’s super helpful, and it doesn’t take much to do.”

He said there could be as many as five or more 3D printers in the Melfort area alone.

So far, Farley made about 150 straps since he started making them almost a week ago.

Farley added the 3D printing community has really come together during this time. Some people have been able to design different kinds of straps to try and see what works. Farley said he received templates from people as far away as the Middle East.

This is one of the templates Farley received as people in the 3D printing community continue to find ways to improve the designs. (submitted photo/Brett Farley)

Meanwhile, JBN Promotions in Melfort is also making some straps for local health care workers. However, they are doing it a bit different than Farley. Co-owner Brandon Brignall said they are using their production laser to cut them out.

We have been closed for three weeks with no light at the end of the tunnel right now,” Brignall said. “So we thought we could do what we can to help out, other than self-isolation.”

JBN Promotions in Melfort has been able to create two different styles of straps for the masks. (submitted photo/Brandon Brignall)

Brignall said they’ve been able to send out straps to Melfort, Tisdale, Prince Albert, and Nipawin. He said they’ve gone to long-term care homes as well as hospitals.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6