Disaster Zone 3D Printing with Field Ready

Tom and Tracy reads out a statement by Dr. Eric James of Field Ready to spread the word and get some help for their GoFundMe for those who feel so inclined to donate. It would help the use of 3D printing in disaster zones that Field Ready is working with right now due to the recent hurricanes.

Disaster Zone 3D Printing with Field Ready

Due to the recent hurricanes pretty much everywhere and in the Caribbean especially, we’ve had one of the companies that we’ve interviewed in the past reach out to us. We’re actually going to replay their episode here but we have this new introduction because it’s very relevant given the hurricanes. We know you don’t like replays and we really haven’t been doing that much lately, but this one is very timely and we think worth bringing back up at this point.

We were reached out to via email by Dr. Eric James of Field Ready, which is a company that we talked to. It was Episode 402 for the original one. At that time it was called Humanitarian Makers Getting Field Ready. They were really just getting started with the Field Ready Program, the idea of making replacement parts in disaster zones. They had run some case studies and they had been refining their equipment and their materials and their process all over the world in various places like Haiti and South Sudan. Right now, they are on their way to the US Virgin Islands. They are deploying there with everything that they can to build replacement parts and get those islands up and running as fast as possible.

I have a statement that they wrote for us and I love for you to know what they’re doing. We’re replaying it because there’s a lot of information in there that you don’t really consider when you think about what’s going on in these disaster zones. I think it’s relevant to listen to it again. My eyes were just like, “I forgot about that.” Now that it’s so front of mind with what’s going on with the hurricanes and with the earthquake in Mexico, you just really think about how valuable this is. Dr. James and Field Ready has asked if we wouldn’t mind, I know how generous our audience is here, there will be a GoFundMe page, if you feel so inclined to donate to this, it would help the use of 3D printing in this disaster zone and very specifically go directly to the projects that are going on with Field Ready right now and to all of those zones.

Eric has written, “In a humanitarian disaster, simple items can mean the difference between life and death. In many cases, logistical and financial constraints make it very hard to deliver aid quickly and efficiently to those in need. A bucket, for instance, essential for health and hygiene, may take weeks or even months to arrive in the hands of disaster victims due to cost and logistic constraints. In the Caribbean, the impacted areas are islands and all of the major transportation networks have been severely damaged, making the delivery of relief items extremely challenging.

“Field Ready can mass produce plastic non-food items where they’re actually needed, such as buckets, water cans and eating utensils. In Haiti, they are already making disposable medical supplies like umbilical clamps. In South Sudan, they are making spare parts for water drills to ensure people have access to clean water.

“Using the latest technology, Field Ready can manufacture virtually anything that is needed in remote and low resource areas on demand. This means that they can work with the affected communities to quickly identify what they need and work to provide a solution immediately. Field Ready is responding to the Caribbean in the wake of the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Their goal is to assist the relief and recovery efforts by assessing the most urgent needs and working to find fast and innovative solutions. They need your help to ensure that their team is able to support hurricane victims now.”

That really speaks for itself. It’s a well-written statement. They’re already on the way to US Virgin Islands. I think they also reached out to us prior to the devastation that’s taken place on Puerto Rico with the most recent hurricane. From what we’ve been able to see in news reports, Puerto Rico has been just completely devastated. They have no electricity on the entire island, so they use generators and things. They have no communications. I’m sure they’re probably going to be deploying some people to help on Puerto Rico as well. Their needs are now just exponentially grown into where they’re needed in the world.

The other thing that I want to point out is listen in to the podcast because he does talk about how they have solved some of the power problems. They were working on solar solutions and other things like that. When I re-listened to the episode, I was like, “I forgot about that. That would still work in Puerto Rico. That would still work in the Virgin Islands.” Thinking about some of the things they had been doing over the last year that they’ve refined and been able to prove out as a model working both in Haiti and South Sudan where they’ve been primarily up to this point.

I think that’s great. I’m glad they reached out to us. We are very happy to give them a little plug because what they’re doing is just so needed. We’re really happy that we can help even just a small way to give them a little more exposure and spread the message. We don’t know if any of you will be in a position to be able to help donate, but if any of you are so inclined and have a few bucks that you could contribute to help their cause, it’s going to help a lot of people in need over there, all these people on these islands affected by the recent hurricanes.

At the same time, I think that every time you make a donation, there’s always that self-serving interest of like, “Is it an area of interest? Is it an area that I care about?” I know you all care about 3D printing and this furthers the cause and the purpose for 3D printing. What can it do that is so amazing to impact as many people as possible? This is one of those things. When I think about that, I think about, “I can really help a region and I can help 3D printing at the same time.” I hope you think the same things and will head to 3DStartPoint.com and straight to the link to their GoFundMe.

Now, we’ll segue right into the interview that we conducted on Episode 402, so you can refresh your memories as to a lot more of the details of what they’re doing. Thanks again for listening to this replay. Also we’ll be back again with a new interview episode.

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