“I can find adult N95 masks, but none to fit a child.”
After the San Diego fire in the summar of 2008 Joe Flynn started to worry about her son. She bought a few N95 masks for herself but it was impossible to find smaller masks to fit her child.
Joe was not alone. Bob Williams from Knoxville has been trying hard to search for a small N95 mask that will fit his 6 years old boy. It was for the family emergency kit. When he stumbled on TOTOBOBO mask on the web, he told himself “This mask is exactly what I am looking for.” Like Joe, he was delighted that the mask fit comfortably on his son’s small face.
Good protection = good seal + good filter
“Good protection is built on two factors: a good filter and a good seal“.
Surgical mask is not good enough
You may have seen news on TV that many school kids in Asia wearing surgical masks during the SARS. But the fact is surgical mask was not designed to prevent air-borne contamination. There are gaps from both sides that virus can bypass the mask easily.
Surgical mask is designed to protect nurses or surgeons from contaminated blood splash during an operation. In Japan it is commonly used to reduce the risk of spreading the flu virus from the wearers when they are sick. The protection value of surgical mask from air borne virus is a big question mark.
N95 mask effectiveness: fit-testing is a problem
Respirator (e.g. N95 mask), on the other hand, is designed to protect the wearer from air borne virus. This is only possible if the respirator is making a good seal on your face such that air have to go through the filter before entering the breathing zone. However a proper fit-test can only be conducted by a trained specialist with special equipment, which is simply too complicated for the public.
Manufacturer come up with “user seal check” which typically involve blocking the filter and blow into the mask while wearing it. To feel that if there is any air leak from gaps around the mask. But such practice is questioned by a study from the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong. The study suggested there is 25% of failure rate when trained users apply the standard “User seal check”. The standard user seal check recommended by most manufacturers is just too ambiguous and unreliable. “It’s usefulness as a pre-use test must be questioned”, the report concluded.
Another study “Respiratory Donning in Post-Hurricane New Orleans” (US CDC, May 2007) found 76% participants were not able to demonstrate proper donning for a good seal and their protection has been compromised.
TOTOBOBO mask improve user seal check by 25%
Main features of TOTOBOBO mask
When looking for a respirator to protect his kids, Francis Chu, the inventor of TOTOBOBO mask, encountered the same frustration as Joe and Bob. He became aware of the many difficulties faced by parents and determined to come up with a better solution. He applied his expertise in product design and experimented with hundreds of prototypes. Finally he came up with an ergonomic design that fits most people and can be customized to fit children.
He understand that beyond a good seal and good filter, other issues like comfort, cleaning, reuse, portability are all important factors need to be addressed before the mask can be considered as “Child Friendly”.
Following is a summary of the issues and respective solutions embedded in Totobobo:
PROBLEMS………………………………….. SOLUTIONS
Children’s face size varies …….…….. Trim it to fit small faces
Hard to determine a good seal …… VSC Visual Seal Check makes it easy
Difficult to disinfect (for reuse) …… Anti-virus mask easy to clean and safer to reuse
Children’s skin is delicate………… FDA approved, non allergic soft material
……
Not easy to carry………………..…………. light weight, folded flat
Parents and school teachers from different parts of the world have discovered the new solution for their children. If you are looking for an effective mask to protect your child, TOTOBOBO is exactly what your are looking for!
“It is the only mask out there that fits my boy and give him adequate protection.”
- Bob Williams, Knoxville , USA
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Get a Family pack (4 masks + 50 pair 96% filters )= $169 (We absorb the FedEx cost!)
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This package contains 4 Totobobo masks + 50 filter pairs (96%), great for respiratory protection for the whole family.
Each mask can be customized to fit individual family member, from children as young as 5 years old to adult. The 96% filters provide extra protection. They are individually sealed in plastic and can be shared amongst all family members.
Read more about TOTOBOBO mask for children :
The best fitting mask for children
Say no to pollution in school buses
Time for a better mask for children
Protect children from incense smoke
Transparent mask make easy seal check
How to’s
How to customize TOTOBOBO mask for your children?
How to wash TOTOBOBO mask for reuse?
How to check the mask-to-face-seal without fit-test equipment?
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