Volunteer Makers,

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of our Makers across the US.  You have been exceedingly productive; more so than we could have imagined.  When we started this effort to support the doctors and nurses at Montefiore, we thought we might be able to maybe make a few hundred shields to address their needs. 

It soon became apparent that the need was much greater than we realized, as was the capacity and dedication of our volunteers.  This week alone we assembled 465 shields here in Stamford before we ran out of clear material! With the 10,000 commercially purchased shields we donated to Montefiore last week, we branched out to address immediate needs at other hospitals with this last batch of shields.  255 went to Stamford Hospital and were in use only hours after drop-off.  80 went to Northern Westchester Hospital, 50 to Mt. Sinai and 80 to Holy Name in Teaneck, NJ, these last 2 deliveries facilitated by PPE4NYC (https://ppe4nyc.org/).

Additionally, our partners, Potomac Photonics, found a small supply of clear material, and a need for shields at Johns Hopkins, so we sent 135 visors assembly kits to them for assembly and delivery to Hopkins.  Since we’ve started this project almost 6 weeks ago, we have put almost 1,300 3D printed/laser cut protective face shields on our frontline healthcare professionals.

At this point TECLens must transition back to our core work, which, in this very challenging economic environment means trying to keep our company alive in the near term so we can change vision care in the future.  Although the curve looks to be flattening here in the NY area, we expect it to accelerate in other areas.  For anyone who wishes to continue to help, please contact Krishna Koka at PPE4NYC (krishna.koka16@gmail.com).  They are tracking, and attempting to meet, many different types of COVID-19 induced needs over a broad and expanding area.

Thank you again everyone.  As always, I like to extend special gratitude to Mike Adelstein and his team at Potomac Photonics for their unflinching support in this effort.  And, of course, we all need to salute the recipients of our shields on the frontlines in New York City caring for CV19 patients.

Stay safe everyone,

Patrick D. Lopath | COO