KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As front-line workers in the health-care field continue doing everything they can to return to people to health during the COVID-19 pandemic, some have family members going the extra miles to help keep them safe as well.
Two local teenagers with parents who work at the University of Kansas Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas, are among those stepping up to help to help plug gaps in the availability of personal protective equipment.
"This is my 3D printer, and I have been making mask straps for about three weeks now," Elliott Korentager, 14, said.
He has made more than 200 straps for front-line workers, which hold the mask together at the back relieve some pressure on the ears, an idea he got from watching his parents.
"I work at KU Cancer Center in breast surgery," Elliott's mom, Sabrina Korentager, said.
His dad, Richard, is also a plastic surgeon at the hospital and pitched the idea to son.
"He was talking about how a lot of people were having problems with their ears getting either a rash behind it or just irritated overall," Elliott said.
But he is not the only Kansas City-area teen putting his ingenuity to use during the pandemic.
Olathe North senior Akshay Shastri is using his 3D printer to make face shields and donating 250 of them to the University of Kansas Health System, where his mom is a doctor.
Both teens see this as an opportunity to give back.
"Really anything you can do can help," Elliott Korentager said.
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