.png)
Olivet College junior Donald Lee Doyle III chose to help others during the COVID-19 pandemic. Doyle and his family are using 3D printing technology to make personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare professionals who lack the protective gear when treating COVID-19 patients.
"The goal is make sure nobody runs without. We cannot make enough for everybody, but if enough of us get out there, we can maybe bridge the gap until big manufacturing starts making thousands of these. In the meantime, we just want to save one person at a time. If we can help one nurse not get infected, one doctor not get infected, and that is what we can hope to do," Donald Lee Doyle II said in an interview with ABC 12 News.
The Doyle family started a GoFundMe on March 26 to purchase the materials to make more PPE. As of May 4, 2020, the Doyle family has raised $19,375.
“We are so thankful for each and every one of you! The support has been incredible. More incredible is the gratitude that we continue to receive from those HEROES who are so in need of this PPE! We have purchased 35 printers. They are working full force in 3 locations, putting out 1000s of PPE to over 70 locations,” Amy Doyle said in a post on their GoFundMe page.
The Doyle family isn’t the only family with connections to Olivet College making PPE during the pandemic; sophomore Brian Taylor has also lent his skills toward making PPE for healthcare professionals.
“My sister works at the hospital and she told my family the struggle that the hospital is having and the shortages that they are having. My grandmother has a sewing group and that started the idea for us to start making PPE, for members and families who don’t have PPE,” Taylor said.
The Doyle family GoFundMe page can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/personal-protection-equipment-ppe?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet.