Fifth-grader 3D prints face shields for nurses
When fifth-grader Jacob Mariscal found out about the short supply of personal protective equipment for nurses, like his mom Anna, he wanted to help.
“My teacher kind of inspired me because he has a 3D printer in his classroom and I wanted one when I first saw it, and then I got it, and this whole coronavirus thing happened," Mariscal said. "I was thinking, ‘why can’t we make the masks?’”
So with the help of his teacher Paul Gordon, Mariscal got started making face shields for ICU nurses here in the Coachella Valley.
“Jacob has empathy that is outstanding, and that’s one thing that is needed in students and that we don’t ask. Empathy doesn’t have a standard, empathy isn’t a class, but that is something that really shows out within Jacob,” said Gordon.
“The motivation behind this was to help everybody in the hospital because my mom works at the hospital and I want to help her and her co-workers, and everybody else,” Mariscal said.
After Mariscal prints the masks, Gordon sterilizes them and delivers them to those in need. Gordon said roughly 50 ICU nurses asked for these shields.
“It’s very important, especially right now with the pandemic because there is a shortage, so all the nurses need whatever support they can get, so if it helps by 3D printing the face shields that are needed, then that’s what he’s going to do,” said Anna Mariscal, Jacob's mom and a nurse at Eisenhower Health.
Mariscal is the 3D printing manager in Gordon’s classroom. His grandparents then bought him his own for Christmas, which he’s been putting to good use.
“He’s the one who sets it up, he takes them off, he cleans it, he starts another one, so he’s motivated to help everybody and whatever he can do at most,” said Juan Mariscal, Jacob's dad.
Next, he’s planning to start making mask ear guards for his mom’s department in the Lucy Curci Cancer Center at Eisenhower Health.
“We’re very proud of our son," said Anna Mariscal. "Who knew a Christmas present would go so far?!”
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