Father & daughter team up to save ears

FATHER and daughter duo Natalie Tingate and Ray Testa have been busy making smart devices to protect the ears of mask wearing workers.

The products are small pieces of plastic designed to be hooked onto the loops of a mask so that it can rest against the back of the wearers head to prevent ear irritation.

Ms Tingate said through her work as a nursing assistant at Ballarat Health Services, she noticed that her and her colleague’s ears were beginning to grow irritated by the masks.

“My dad, my brother and I came up with the idea once I mentioned that all of our ears were starting to hurt,” she said.

“Dad designed and printed a few on his 3D printer and I tested them out at work, made sure they were comfortable and started giving them away to others who wanted them.

“There’s so many places where people need to wear as mask the whole shift, that pressure in the same spot does get really uncomfortable so we decided to start the Go Fund Me page.”

Once Ms Tingate set up the fundraiser page, the response from their family, friends and the wider community was overwhelming.

Without any advertising, she said that they reached their goal of $1000 in less than a week.

“The only reason why we reached out for donations was because we wanted to reach a larger group of people and couldn’t do it on our own,” she said.

“The donations go towards covering the filament costs and general maintenance on the printers so we can start sending them out to places.

“People have been so generous and it’s really made the difference.”

So far, the team have printed and distributed over 600 ear savers to members in the Ballarat and Moorabool community working at hospitals, schools, supermarkets, cafes, beauty salons and emergency services.

With no plans to halt the operation any time soon, Ms Tingate said they will continue making them until the donations run out.

“They work really well for the surgical masks but can be used with most other types of handmade masks as well,” she said.

“The ear savers are plastic so you can fully wipe them down with antiseptic wipe, alcohol swaps or hand sanitiser and then use them again.

“We make them in a whole heap of colours, they’re small and can fit in your pocket.”

The most recent batch of ear savers were mailed to staff at Ballarat District Health and Care, Ballarat Blood Donor Centre, Ballarat Health Services, Ballan IGA and Royal Freemasons Ballarat.

Ms Tingate said that although it’s a simple operation, he and her family do it because they want to continue to help people.

“People are selling them for like $4 each but dad and I thought that it was such a difficult time for people it would be better off to just give them out,” she said.

“I’ve been struggling with the restrictions myself and I know so many frontline workers not only health care workers but also childcare workers and supermarket would be too.

“We don’t want to make a profit, we’re simply using the donations to cover the costs, we just want to make this hard time right now a little more comfortable and easy for someone.”

Ms Tingate regularly updates the Go Fund Me page about where the ear savers are to be donated next and has invited the public comment suggestions for organisations to send them to in the future.

To donate to Ms Tingate’s EAR SAVERS – Pay it forward fund, visit gofundme.com.