Are you a manufacturer that makes critical supplies like personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, hand sanitizer, and tests? Are you a maker that wants to pitch in? Do you have a factory with excess capacity and want to learn how to shift or scale your production to meet the urgent needs of the COVID-19 pandemic?
See below for a list of resources. (Check back often for updates; the landscape is evolving fast!)
Note: As of April 2nd, 2020, the City of Los Angeles urges everyone to wear face covering when out in public, due to new data showing the risk of asymptomatic spread. These masks do not have to be N95.
Matching suppliers with needs
National Programs
If you are a supplier or a hospital in need, register with these sites:
Project N95 – The National COVID-19 medical equipment clearinghouse
Get Us PPE – Large matching database for PPE suppliers and hospitals
Other national efforts:
PPE Coalition – A hotline and evolving list of more resources
Helena – A local non-profit that have raised nearly $20M and is purchasing supplies to get them out of the hands of profiteers and reselling at cost. They have supplies and are looking for hospital procurement departments to partner with.
NAM Survey – National Association of Manufacturers and Business Roundtable are surveying manufacturers to identify existing supplies and additional capacity
Smaller matching platforms for masks only:
Mask Match – Matching masks of all kinds with hospitals
We Need Masks – Matching fabric masks with hospitals as last resort
The Mask Project – Seeking those in need, no longer accepting manufacturer submissions
Connect to needs in Los Angeles
UCLA Health donations – scroll down for in-kind donation information, or email COVID19PPESupport@mednet.ucla.edu with additional questions
Keck Hospital of USC donations – or email DonateProtectiveGear@med.usc.edu
Children’s Hospital Los Angeles – email Covid19donations@chla.usc.edu
L.A. Protects – A program to match locally-made non-medical protective gear with workers on the frontlines in Los Angeles, including helpful specs.
Los Angeles vendor offer form – form to have your product considered for purchase by city departments, you must be a business with a sales license but do not have to be in the city procurement system
Los Angeles donor offer form – fill out if you want to donate supplies to the city, donations must be made by businesses not individuals
Other local efforts
Massachusetts
New York City
Colorado Make4Covid
Resources for new suppliers and makers
CIMIT design review site – Make sure your efforts help not hurt! Submit your ideas for “non-traditional medical supplies and equipment” here, to the Consortia for Improving Medicine through Innovation and Technology to get feedback and share your designs.
Open Source COVID-19 guidelines – Background, needs, and designs
GitHub for Ventilator Projects – open source ventilator designs with up-to-date analysis
Open Source Facebook group – Ideas, best practices, connections with makers
COVID-19 Critical Care Protocols – Better understand the situation in hospitals
GetUsPPE Guide for makers – Ensure your projects are made safely and will be used
MAKE Magazine guide for COVID-19 response – Links to open source designs and projects
Metal 3d printing services – Desktop Metal is providing custom-on-demand printing
Formlabs 3D Printing Network – If you have a 3d printer and want to help
A note about 3d printing and non-traditional medical equipment
The landscape of using of 3d printed products for medical use is rapidly evolving, but safety and liability is still unknown. For example, the stratification of printing layers might be the perfect size to trap coronavirus, and some printing materials are porous and hard to disinfect. Before making anything, especially 3d printed parts, make sure you do your research, have good guidance on issues like safety and liability, and know that your product will get used before making it (see links above).
Manufacturing Extension Partnership guidance
Are you a manufacturer eager to shift and scale your operations to support the COVID effort? We need you! But you must consider many issues like medical approval, liability, safety, and capital.
The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) offers a program that can help called “Manufacturing Extension Partnership.” It provides free and subsidized consulting for manufacturing businesses. More information here.
Each state has its own federally funded non-profit that delivers programming and support. In California, visit contact California Manufacturing Technology Consulting (CMTC) or visit their website for help:
CMTC Headquarters
690 Knox Street, Suite 200
Torrance, CA 90502
310-263-3060
cmtc.com
Economic Development Assistance
Disaster Assistance Loans – Small Business Administration (SBA)
Small Business Resource Center for COVID-19 – resources, loans, and philanthropic efforts for small businesses compiled by the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC)
Other Resources
While at Home – other resources for the times you stay socially-distanced at home