This was our first full week assembling Mask Kits at Lightspeed Manufacturing in Haverhill, and we are extremely pleased that it has gone incredibly smoothly. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the amazing folks at Lightspeed.
Highlights for the week include:
- Successful switch to injection molded polycarbonate adaptors which are being manufactured in large quantities with extremely low defect rates
- Nearly 1,400 Mask Kits delivered
- Successful implementation of Tulip back end IT system for tracking supply chain, manufacturing, and fulfillment; this will be integrated with Salesforce
- Preparation for launch of PR campaign to support an additional $3 million fund raise
Key Performance Indicators
- Mask Kits Delivered; 1,399 to 334 institutions
- Current Unfulfilled Orders: 1,307 to 205 institutions
- Production rate: ~1000 kits / day
Funds Raised; $2.0m ($157,052 from GoFundMe campaign)
THE WEEK AHEAD
Our goals for this week include:
- First public press campaign launching Monday (see attached Press Release)
- Traditional press and TV coverage
- Social media shares
- Continued fundraising of additional $3m to achieve our total goal of $5m
- Ramp production towards 2,000 Mask Kits per day
- Meet rapidly escalating demand
- Negotiate preferred shipping rates with Fedex or UPS (any contacts here appreciated)
WE NEED YOUR HELP!
With the press campaign launching, we need our supporters to share the MasksOn story as widely as possible. Please post about MasksOn on your social media accounts, and especially call or email any media contacts who may be interested in the story.
Two young front line anesthesiologist residents, Dr. Boehme and Dr. Stone, set this whole project in motion to protect their colleagues across the nation when they realized that proper PPE was rapidly running out. But, they didn’t just pass the idea on to someone else and go back to work – they’ve been spending literally every one of their precious spare hours with us, tinkering, testing, and providing countless hours of critical expertise.
When we talk about exertion tests, that’s Jackie riding several hours on a Peloton wearing the Mask Kit and Zaid Altawil, an ER doctor at BMC, running 3 mile trials! When we talk about “capnography” testing, that’s Alex hooking himself up to a machine at Brigham & Women’s and carefully measuring potential CO2 excesses in his own exhaled air.
These doctors made their need clear to a collection of engineers, entrepreneurs, and rapid manufacturing specialists, and we jumped forward because we felt we could not let them down. The story is not just about good intentions and smarts, rather it’s a story of one industry answering the call of another in a time of extreme need. It only happened because of the confluence of expertise from many disciplines, coupled with the incredible generosity of you, our benefactors who also answered the call.
Now the project is “shovel ready” from the funding perspective: dollars will be turned immediately into badly needed Mask Kits and fedexed into clinician’s hands, for free, in a matter of days.
Here are a few quotes from clinicians that we received just on Friday:
**MasksOn is the real deal! A creative and workable solution that has been rigorously tested. My PPE advocacy group (in Boston) supports them all the way. Thank you!
*AMAZING! I ordered one for myself and am showing this website to my hospital today.
*THANK YOU! Please tell the MasksOn team of volunteers that their efforts and mission are impressive, recognized and appreciated. The quality of product, types of testing and nonprofit status definitely set your project apart from many similar efforts. I actually cried when I clicked on the order link and found it is really free. I can afford to buy it, but am so accustomed to the price gouging (and just hoping what I order will show up) in our current environment that I really thought there would be a catch. I will be donating and sharing this link to get others to donate too!
*AMAZING! I tried a DIY version and it didn’t work. MasksOn has clearly done their homework and have a great product. I’m ordering today and I hope my hospital will order more for everyone.
*I NEED THIS! I hope my hospital will approve use. We have a major shortage.
*THIS is the type of PPE we need. I ordered mine today.
Please send ideas, suggestions, feedback, and comments to Christian Lewis at [email protected], and visit our MasksOn.org and GoFundMe pages.