Coronavirus: I'm using my pizza oven to toss masks for nurses

By Jessica Lussenhop

BBC News, Washington

4/10/20

...In some cases, hospitals are reaching out directly. Haven Allen is the CEO and co-founder of MHub, a non-profit manufacturing firm that after shutting down its 63,000-square-foot facility last month, is now using its equipment, materials and idle engineers to help Chicago-area hospitals get supplies.

Their first project - build a cheap, easy-to-manufacture ventilator from materials one could buy off the shelf.

"We wanted to drive down the price point to about $350 a unit," he says.

Then Northwestern Memorial Hospital called. They were concerned about a shortage of face shields. A few volunteer engineers quickly switched gears. "Within just a few hours, they created a few prototypes with the materials they had on site," says Megan McCann, a spokeswoman for Northwestern. "The first batch of face shields was delivered to Northwestern Memorial Hospital the week of March 30; these will go directly to the doctors, nurses and staff caring for patients with Covid-19."

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