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Maple Ridge scout makes nifty tool to aid front-line workers

Quinn Callander, 12, is using a 3D printer to make hundreds of ear guards
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Quinn Callander shows off the earguards he has been creating for health services professionals across North America. (Submitted photo)

While many kids his age are playing Fortnite to get through quarantine, Quinn Callander is doing his part to make sure the lives of front line health care workers are a little more tolerable.

The 12-year-old Maple Ridge scout has built hundreds of ear guards using a 3D printer he received for his birthday last year.

Callander’s mother, Heather Roney, said she and her husband saw a Facebook post in which a Royal Columbian Hospital nurse was calling on volunteers to make the guards, which ease the pain of wearing a mask for 12 hours in a row.

“Quinn and his dad went onto a website for 3D print projects and found a couple different types,” Roney said.

“They printed a couple test ones and then we had a nurse friend who works in a hospice here test them, and she picked the one she liked best and Quinn just started printing non-stop 24 hours a day.”

Roney estimates it has been a little over a week since they started and the family has sent hundreds of the ear guards –free of charge – to hospitals all over the Lower Mainland, across Canada, and even the U.S.

The influence has not stopped there, however. A Facebook post Roney wrote about Callander’s industrious charity has netted 350,000 shares on Facebook, resulting in well wishes from across the world.

The feedback from the health care workers has made all the hard work well worth it for the family.

“The ones that are really touching are the nurses that have responded now that they’ve got their ear gear,” said Roney.

“They have said they used to focus so much on the pain they felt through their 12 hour shifts and now they can just focus on their patients.

“We share them with Quinn, and that keeps us motivated to wake up in the middle of the night and keep printing as long as possible.”

This is not the first selfless act the young scout has become known for. When still a seven-year-old, Callander also had an extremely successful lemonade stand he ran to help out a friend who needed a costly operation.

READ MORE: Seven-year-old’s fundraiser makes $50,000 for his friend

Callander is humble about his contributions, and is just happy to be of service.

“I know we’ve done probably the right thing, and we have helped people who are trying to care for the community,” he said. “We’ve helped ease their pain, and we’ve helped ease their stress by doing what we can for them.”



ronan.p.odoherty@blackpress.ca

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