Northern Ontario #PPEforHCP – Thunder Bay Efforts Expand

Northern Ontario #PPEforHCP is a group of over 130 allied healthcare and engineering students, alongside various community partners, who are from the north, for the north against COVID-19. Our primary purpose is to ensure appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) distribution and accessibility across Northern Ontario through various initiatives, including 3D printing and redistribution of donated PPE. Operating across Northern Ontario from Muskoka to Kenora, we have already raised over $2,000 and have relocated more than 20,000 items such as surgical masks, disposable gloves, N95 masks and more!

The group, and our multiple community partners, are excited to announce the launch of two new initiatives in Thunder Bay to increase assistance to the frontline healthcare providers that are at the forefront of this pandemic.

#MakeTheList: This new campaign supported by the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre aims to challenge local businesses to donate their existing PPE, from face shields, eye protection, disposable gloves, respirator masks and more, to support our local healthcare facilities. Every company that donates will #MakeTheList and be featured on the campaign’s website and receive coverage through social media. Several companies – such as LTL Construction, TBT Engineering, Ontario Clean Water Agency, Derek Blunt Contracting, Canadian Tire, Thunder Bay Hydro, and Hamm Home Renovations – have already donated and will be featured over the coming days.

This initiative would not be possible without Vince Mirabelli (Broker, RE/MAX First Choice Realty), Dr. David Savage (TBRHSC Emergency Department Physician) and Jacqueline Savage.

3D Printed Face Shields and Ear Savers: We are excited to announce the official launch of our 3D printed production of face shields and ear savers for frontline healthcare workers. We have teamed up with multiple producers in Thunder Bay, including the Thunder Bay COVID-19 Community Resources Group, Michael Polling, Lakehead University Engineering, Patterson Library, and Ingenuity Makerspaces, as well as the Lakehead University Center for the Application of Resource Information Systems (LU-CARIS). With the generous voluntary assistance of Intercity Industrial we have a safe drop-off location where our product is quality controlled, inventoried, and distribution to our frontline healthcare workers.

We had the privilege of delivering 284 face shields to five local clinics in need over the last week. We are hoping to achieve a total weekly production capacity of 5000 face shields, but are currently operating at 10%, as cost becomes a limiting factor for our producers. Shields cost $2 to produce and are provided to locally registered healthcare facilities free of cost. As such, we are looking for community assistance to raise funds to be able to continue offering this product free of charge. Monetary donations are being accepted through our GoFundMe page (see below), while donations of transparent acetate sheets can be done at the designated bin at Lowerys. We are hoping to expand across Northern Ontario in the coming weeks.