In early March, John and Jason Hopper and their team were already starting to work on prototypes for 3D printed face shields.
Cass county is also home to a plastic moulding company which is now stepping up efforts to protect those on the frontlines of the coronavirus.
News 18's anna darling talked with the owners of the family business about what they're doing, and why they decided to take action.
"we just felt like we had to do something.
We have the capability to help these people" john and jason hopper are second generation owners of hopper development inc in logansport.
"we normally make plastic componentry for semi trucks" /nat/ but then the coronavirus broke out and started spreading across the globe.
"it was clear to us that this could be a problem very very quickly and then it was in early february that we started seeing some issues" so by early march the company was starting to work on prototypes for face shields.
Stand up: it took john and his crew several tries to get the perfect shape for the face shields.
But they've made it so that it doesnt require any elastics, all you do is slip it on and it stays in place on your head" "we worked with a doctor in the final design to make it right" their 3-d printers churn out about a thousand of these molds per day.
/nat/ the hoppers aren't charging a dime for their products.
"we're not charging for these at all because again we feel the need is too great" they've delivered hundreds of them to hospitals in fort wayne, indianapolis, and to logansport memorial hospital.
But it's not just health care workers they are helping "i just received three calls today from our local fire and ems, they need a whole lot more."
Their mission has become even more important with cass county's quickly increasing number of positive cases.
"these health care providers are putting their lives at risk.
We've got the capabilities to make something that they can't get, so it really feels good to know that maybe we're helping in some tiny tiny way" anna darling news 18 hopper says they will continue to make the shields as long as they have supplies.
They say finding the clear part of the product is difficult right now.
Find out how you can reach out to help on our website wlfi.com.
New tonight -- five hundred thousand
April 23, 2020
