Registered Nurses, (back left to right) Jeremiah Fisher, Sierra Linde, and Lillian Arrants along with CNA Gloria Meyers (front), sport their newly donated 3D re-usable “Montana Masks” at Billings Clinic Tuesday Afternoon. They work on the Inpatient Medical Unit and are trialing the Montana Masks as a re-usable option for a standard surgical mask. A total of 340 differently colored masks were donated to the Billings Clinic as a result of Dr. Spencer Zaugg, Colton Zaugg and Billings Clinic Neurosurgeon Dr. Dusty Richardson’s efforts in creating a prototype from scratch due to the corona virus pandemic. 60 Montana Masks are currently being trialed and the rest will be distributed soon. (Photo courtesy of Billings Clinic)
The designers of the re-usable “Montana Masks” have taken their product to the next level in testing their product to be CDC compliant as well as making the re-usable masks freely available for the masses on their free website www.makethemasks.com. As the coronavirus is projected to peak in Montana in the next two weeks or so, Billings dentist Dr. Spencer Zaugg and his son Colton Zaugg along with Billings Clinic Neurosurgeon Dusty Richardson continue to do extensive tests and research on their 3D reusable masks.
Last week’s first test was in the Pulmonary Laboratory at Billings Clinic where they tested the air quality and air flow for the masks which came back with good positive performance levels for the mask they just created less than a week before.
After tweaking the masks with a couple of minor modifications, a second test was conducted to confirm that the masks would pass the bacteria test as there were some concerns that the re-usable 3D masks would not be able to be cleaned properly in order to be reused because of the porous nature of the masks. However, the latest bacteria test results came back this week with both examples passing the tests. All their results have been documented and posted on their website that went live last week.
Dr. Zaugg told the Yellowstone County News on Tuesday that his original dental website www.longliveyoursmile.com has currently received over 120,000 downloads of the 3D printer files from 151 different countries around the world.
Many of the masks locally are being dropped off at Office 360 who is then taking them to the different area hospitals and locations in need of the masks. There are also residents that are making their own masks with their 3D printers in case they need to use them personally in the future. As for the hospitals, they are using them on a trial basis with 60 masks being tried at this time, and the rest of the 340 donated masks will be distributed soon, says Billings Clinic.
Still, the real question is how much need and demand will there be for the reusable masks as coronavirus cases start to peak in the next couple weeks in Montana? Dr. Dusty Richardson said that depending on how bad the novel virus is, it’s best to “be prepared” and use all the science-based testing we can do which is better for everyone. “I’m just trying to help get answers that are out there as much as I have resources for,” said Dr. Richardson. His hope still continues to be positive and upbeat while they continue to do what he and the Zauggs can in order to help the medical clinics, hospitals or just individuals for personal use. “We’ve even tested the masks to see if bacteria would appear on them after cleaning them with CDC level procedures, and the results came back great so far,” stated Dr. Richardson.
The Billings Trio is also moving to include injection molds as it will cut down the time frame to print and produce masks at a faster rate of under a minute compared to the 3 hours for the 3D printer masks.
As for the community helping with the increased hospital submissions, Dr. Richardson says that the public and community can help the most by staying home and not congregating “like busy bees” affecting others who might really get affected.
In the meantime, “We’re continuing to do what we can to produce the number of masks we can to extend the remaining reserves we have” in reference to the possibility if there becomes a serious shortage of masks locally.
As he learned from an early age to “be prepared” while achieving the Eagle Scout rank, Dr. Richardson carries this mentality of helping his community create a re-usable mask at Billings Clinic become a reality for everyone, including his own healthcare providers and co-workers.
Latest information and test results for the “Montana Masks” can be found on www.makethemasks.com.
