RESOLVE, MakersRespond.org and Open Source Medical Supplies (OSMS) announce a partnership to scale production of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies across DIY maker and local manufacturer efforts in response to the shortage driven by the COVID-19 crisis, with a daily production goal of 1 million face shields by April 22^nd, along with 1 million DIY cloth masks and more. We will work with philanthropic and corporate partners to rapidly secure funding and material at the community and industrial levels, unblock supply chains, ensure safety standards are met, and get the products into the hands of healthcare workers and essential service providers across the globe. 

The novel Coronavirus crisis has spiked demand for PPE and, at the same time, ruptured medical supply chains, leaving healthcare workers without the essential equipment needed to limit disease transmission. Frontline responders around the world are being forced to wash and reuse PPE, putting themselves and others at higher risk.

Already, MakersRespond.org and Open Source Medical Supplies have empowered tens of thousands of volunteers to put hundreds of thousands of pieces of PPE into the hands of healthcare workers and health systems. 

In its first two weeks of operation, Open Source Medical Supplies helped organize over 62,000 people from all over the world in its Facebook group, supplied plans that volunteers turned into 280,000 medical supply items worldwide, produced an 80+ page Open Source Medical Supply Guide that catalogued open source medical supply plans to help treat COVID-19, and released a Local Response Guide for organizers form 95 local chapters globally. 

MakersRespond.org worked with Cisco and Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast to facilitate the donation of more than 6,000 pounds of clear PET plastic sheeting from EasyPak and Ultrepet. The donation was then delivered to maker organizations in New England who are using it to create thousands of face shields for hospitals. This initial donation helped to catalyze the MakersRespond plastic shield program which has since expanded to create significant amounts of PPE at scale for distribution to hospitals and health systems in need across the US.

As the program has grown and new opportunities for operating at scale have been identified, Makersrepond.org and RESOLVE are introducing a new model to help ensure PPE is available to the medical community. Using a "Buy One, Give Two" model, PPE purchases will support PPE donations for the under-resourced hospitals hardest hit by this crisis. 

“The COVID-19 crisis will only be addressed if we act differently, make different decisions, and forge new partnerships. RESOLVE, MakersRespond.org, and Open Source Medical Supplies are committed to bending markets and supply chains and working with businesses and non-profits to keep healthcare workers and communities safe; and we want to put in place long-term solutions to pandemics and other crises.” – Stephen D’Esposito, President and CEO, RESOLVE. 

"Open Source Medical Supplies was founded when we realized global supply chain failure was about to collide with an exponentially increasing demand for medical supplies to treat COVID-19 and local communities would likely need to make their own medical supplies from local materials if conditions worsened around the globe." – Gui Cavalcanti, founder & Co-Executive Director, Open Source Medical Supplies.

"Open Source Medical Supplies is incredibly excited to partner with RESOLVE to allow people all over the world to support themselves and their communities through this global pandemic. RESOLVE's long history working on public health and supply chain issues will be key to enabling our effective response." – Molly Rubenstein, Co-Executive Director, Open Source Medical Supplies.

“MakersRespond is thrilled to be partnering with RESOLVE and OSMS. This will improve the ability of volunteer Makers everywhere to deliver solutions into the hands of their community.” – Bill Schongar, Co-Executive Director, MakersRespond.org.

MakersRespond.org is a grassroots network of volunteer makers and micro-manufacturers who are working around-the-clock to create PPE for frontline healthcare workers. With RESOLVE, leaders in this network are launching a structured, resourced, rapid-response system that matches financial and material resources with volunteers who can quickly transform them into PPE and deliver them to medical systems in need. This initiative can leverage the capacity of large-scale supply chains to multiply the impact of maker communities.

Open Source Medical Supplies was formed to research, medically review, and disseminate open source plans for medical supplies used to treat COVID-19 that can be fabricated locally. Open Source Medical Supplies supports, mentors, and guides local communities as they self-organize hospital systems, essential services, professional fabricators, makerspaces, and local governments into resilient, self-supporting supply units. 

RESOLVE forges sustainable solutions to critical social, health, and environmental challenges by creating innovative partnerships where they are least likely and most needed. These new partnerships build on RESOLVE’s history of supporting rapid response to issues like conflict minerals, food safety, the economic impact of the Ebola outbreak, and the poaching crisis, and an ability to transition immediate support into effective, scalable, long-term solutions.

For more information on RESOLVE’s COVID-19 response initiative, please visit this site.

For more information on MakersRespond.org, please visit this site. 

For more information on OSMS, including links to other press, please visit this site.

RESOLVE

RESOLVE

RESOLVE builds strong, enduring solutions to environmental, social, and health challenges. We help community, business, government, and NGO leaders get results and create lasting relationships through collaboration. RESOLVE is an independent organization with a thirty-year track record of success.

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