Jackson Boy Scout creates face-mask ear guards to protect medical professionals

Boy Scout Nathan Harris, 13, is bringing comfort to medical professionals through surgical mask ear guards.

For about a month, the seventh-grader has been making ear guards for community medical professionals using a 3D printer he received for Christmas.

Wearing a medical mask for long periods of time — as many health care workers are doing now because of the cornoavirus outbreak — may cause irritation to the back of the wearer’s ears. Ear guards help to protect the wearer by wrapping the straps of a medical mask around the back of the wearer’s head, instead of just looping the straps behind the person’s ears. The plastic devices have several different hooks to attach to the mask’s straps, allowing it to be adjustable.

Nathan said he downloads online templates and programs the machine using a micro SD card inserted into the printer. The machine molds plastic filament into three-dimensional shapes over several hours. His mother, Jeanne, said Nathan spent time experimenting with different models until he found the best one.

The machine prints 10 ear guards every six hours, Jeanne Harris said, and can create 30 to 40 ear guards per day. It runs nonstop in their home, she said, with scheduled rests to give the machine a break. After Nathan used his supply of 3D printing filament, Jeanne Harris said the family ordered more to continue creating the protective devices. While ordering the filament, she said she was surprised to see it was nearly sold out; the limited availability led to her ordering colors such as lavender and yellow.

Jeanne Harris said her son first got the idea while reading an article about Canadian Boy Scout Quinn Callander’s efforts to help hospitals in his area. According to reporting by the Washington Post, the 13-year-old has created hundreds of guards, which have since been sent to locations across the United States and Canada.

“We saw an article about a Canadian boy who was doing it, so we thought, ‘Why don’t we?’” Nathan said.

He’s a Star Scout with Troop 4011 — two ranks away from Eagle Scout, he said. His mother said Nathan’s involvement in the group has strengthened his sense of community and initiative to help. She said she admires the way the project has helped her son become even more community-focused.

“I’m proud of the way he’s stepped out of his own experience in all of this and how he’s thought about what it means to other people,” Jeanne Harris said. She said it makes her proud “to see him develop a sense of compassion and empathy, to be able to think about what the professionals are going through and make it easier.”

She said he compared it to “taking one thorn out of a rose bush” — she explained that while the ear guards may not completely fix uncomfortable personal protective equipment, they help.

Nathan drops off packages of ear guards with instructions at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau, she said, which identified a need for 1,000 guards. They also received requests from a Peoria, Illinois, medical facility, as well as other individuals who frequently wear masks. As of late last week, he had created a total of 340 3D-printed guards.

Thursday night, the printer broke, but it’ll be up and working soon, Nathan said. He said he’s already looking at designs to also improve medical masks, imitating scarcely-available N95 masks. He said he’s just trying to work on anything that might help medical professionals right now.

Tracy Watkins works in medical records at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau. After seeing a post on Facebook about the ear guards, she connected with Jeanne Harris and asked for 19 mask ear guards for employees at the assisted living facility. She said the ear guards especially help with ear irritation or adjusting ill-fitting masks.

“He’s doing them a service, because it’s not something everyone can get to,” she said. “They’ll be able to use their mask a lot better. They won’t have to worry about their ears hurting or keeping their mask on.”