Local company begins production of Face shields to supply health providers

Chuck Ceccarelli presents Lisa Melchiorre of St. Luke’s Elmore with some of the face shields his company, In the Ditch, has been producing for health care providers.

As the COVID-19 virus has ramped up in Idaho, local businessman Chuck Ceccarelli has ramped up production of his own at his company In the Ditch Towing Products as he and his employees turned their attention and expertise to the crisis at hand and began producing what could potentially be lifesaving products.

The company is using its 3D printers to produce long wearing face shields for health care providers- free of charge.

They created their shields by taking others and modifying them to what they felt was the best design possible. The face shield portion is replaceable and only takes about 20 seconds to change out. They also chose to use plastic that is able to be cut with scissors in order to make them shorter. Originally they reported that they are only able to produce 50 masks a day running their printer 24 hours a day and were having to ration the amount of shields they were given out due to the high demand, but have recently reported that employees with printers at home have began running their machines as well. Ceccarelli and his employees are hoping to begin giving out 200 masks a day starting this week.

Other local businesses have begun to chip in by donating money to help with the production of the shields that are being donated to those on the front lines of this pandemic.