Murrysville family prints mask extenders for area medical personnel

Typically, the 3D printer in Jason Cyprowski’s Murrysville home is more of an entertaining curiosity.

“My daughters made cookie cutters, and my son’s made some little toys with it,” Cyprowski said.

These days, however, it’s getting a much more rigorous workout creating mask extenders for area medical personnel.

“After learning that wearing a mask has caused chafing and pain from the face mask elastic bands people are required to wear all day, I decided to make as many mask extenders as I could,” said Cyprowski’s daughter, Leah, 10, a fifth-grader at Sloan Elementary. “This extender keeps the straps off the ears of these workers to help them be more comfortable as they help our community.”

Extenders were created using a free pattern from Thingiverse.com. Elastic mask straps are secured to the extenders, allowing tension to be spread over the back of the head, rather than pulling on the backs of the ears.

The Cyprowskis donated 100 extenders to nurses at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, where Jason’s sister was a nurse, and an additional 75 to Murrysville Medic One officials on Monday.

“So far, we’re up to about 250,” said Leah’s mother, Lindsey Cyprowski. “Right now, we’re working on a batch for nurses at UPMC East, using purple because that’s kind of their color.”

The family also has set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for materials and a second 3D printer, “so we can double what we can make in a day,” Leah said.

It takes about 90 minutes to print a sheet of five extenders, and Cyprowski said the printer is running on a near-constant basis.

“We thought this was something they could do that wasn’t overly complicated or dangerous, but was still helping in some way,” he said.

To donate to the Cyprowskis’ GoFundMe page, click here or visit GoFundMe.com and search for “face mask extender Murrysville.”