Golf Car giant donates needed equipment.
On Monday morning, April 6, 2020 at 10 a.m., Club Car’s Justin Thigpen, advanced manufacturing engineer, made a very special delivery to hospitals in Augusta, Georgia, to support healthcare workers in the fight against the coronavirus.
The delivery consisted of 200 donated, 3D-printed face mask adjusters. These small plastic parts – created by the Club Car team on two on-site 3D printers with a few modifications to a free Hewlett Packard design download – allow doctors and nurses to secure their face masks more tightly and more comfortably.
Once the masks’ elastic straps are attached to the hooks of the adjuster, the straps pull on the adjuster rather than on the health workers’ ears. This alleviates the soreness, and even blisters, caused by wearing a mask for too long. The mask stability the adjusters provide also lessens the number of times doctors and nurses need to touch their faces to adjust their masks.
This is just the beginning, Justin said. “To date the team has delivered over 585 of the plastic pieces to three local hospitals—University Hospital, Doctors Hospital and Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center. We provided another 400+ this week! The Club Car team calculates they can produce approximately 400+ adjusters per day if they keep the 3D printer running on two shifts. We are very excited to be able to donate to the community and do our part.”
A healthcare worker thanked Club Car and the team for what they were doing and commented, “Everyone loves these and we are so blessed to be receiving these mask adjusters.”
“We are so proud of our community-minded Club Car employees,” said Club Car President and General Manager Mark Wagner. “This is just one of many examples of their generous commitment of personal time and energy. I’ve also heard of a few employees who are, in their spare time, creating masks for health care workers.
“I’ve seen Club Car employees step up to support one another and their community countless times,” says Mark. “They are well known for their many contributions to the community and for helping those in need. Their ingenuity and spirit during the most challenging of times is something we can all feel good about.”
