BakerRisk employees team with community programs to provide masks and relief bands for first responders

Our team is committed to serving our clients and our community, which is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is apparent that our first responders are falling short of essential supplies required to safely help others and aid in their mission to save lives. Seeing how this shortage is affecting their local responders and friends, two BakerRisk Houston employees, John Moosemiller and Akansha Khandelwal, searched for opportunities to help our heroes.

Medical professionals are working hours on end with uncomfortable but necessary personal protective equipment (PPE). With the aid of community and governmental ingenuity, the (United States of America) National Institutes of Health (NIH) has approved designs of PPE and accessories that citizens may produce on their personal 3D printers and donate to their local first responders. John, who manages 3D printing projects for BakerRisk, teamed-up with Akansha to start producing and delivering NIH approved “Mask Relief Bands” to medical professionals in the Houston area. The mask relief bands, which are designed to help alleviate uncomfortable and even painful pressure to the ears, have been happily welcomed by first responders in need!

Click here to see, share, or print the design approved by the National Institutes of Health for distribution in the US: https://3dprint.nih.gov/discover/3dpx-013410.

Our in-house 3D printer is usually used to enhance project work and business development efforts, but we are excited to have the capability to repurpose it in this time of need.

Akansha has also joined a private volunteer group in her neighborhood called, “Masks for our Heroes,” which is a group focused on sewing surgical masks and N95 mask covers. Interested in sewing masks* to help your family, friends, and local heroes? Here are steps to follow – vetted by many BakerRisk team and family members to be easy enough for even novices to follow: https://sarahmaker.com/how-to-sew-a-surgical-face-mask-for-hospitals-free-pattern/

*As noted within this tutorial, “Homemade face masks are not as effective as the N95 filtration mask recommended by the CDC, and are not a substitute for proper PPE… CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus, but do not know it, from transmitting it to others”.

We thank the community and government officials that have allowed citizens the opportunity to help their local heroes while we all do our part by sheltering-in-place and following proper safety measures.

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