He joined the Massachusetts National Guard in Dec 2001, after 9/11 attacks, because he wanted to give back. Now Dave Thibodeau is doing his part to give back again. Because of the need brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, he has been using his 3D printer to print face shields.
“There was a need for PPE and face shields are something that I can produce,” said Thibodeau.
He has delivered 53 face masks so far to Holy Cross Hospital in Germantown, Md., 22 to family and friends in the medical field and 15 to his office for a total of 90 so far.
“I am ordering 3D printing filament from Amazon to print the shield frames, and 8.5 x 11" transparency sheets for clear portion. I chose the design based on the request I got from the hospital. The 3D model for the design was a community effort started by Prusa, which is the company I purchased my 3D printer from. On the same day that I got the request from the hospital, I received an email from Prusa customer support. They set up a space online with a guide and a base shield model. I downloaded their design and made slight changes based on community feedback on their site. Their original design was for Europe, and the changes made were to allow for standard US products/measurement,” said Thibodeau.
Thibodeau lives with his wife of 8 years, has a bachelor’s degree in computer programming and a master's degree in cyber security. He joined the guard as a motor transport operator while he was attending college. While assigned to the 1166th Transportation Company, he deployed to Kuwait in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He said his favorite part about being in the guard was the relationships formed with fantastic guard members, the excellent benefits and the challenging experience.
“My time in the guard opened a lot of doors to me, and helped me jump-start my career in the federal government,” said Thibodeau.
He left the Massachusetts National Guard as a specialist in 2007 and moved to the DC area to join the federal workforce in 2011, but his parents and three brothers are still in Massachusetts.
All three of his brothers are Veterans. His younger brothers, Matthew and Daniel, are both currently serving in the Massachusetts National Guard in full-time positions.
Thibodeau has been 3D printing as a hobby since 2016 and has no plans to stop making masks anytime soon. He has another 25 masks ready for delivery.
“I am just producing them as fast as I can and delivering them to the hospital until this situation is over,” he said.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2020 15:47 |
| Story ID: | 368435 |
| Location: | MASSACHUSETTS, US |
| Web Views: | 29 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Massachusetts Veteran Gives Back, by Laura Berry, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
