Left: Vince Hatcher, Director, Southeast Operations, Hollingsworth & Vose donated N95 masks to Thim Corvin, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations at VCOM to be distributed at local hospitals.
In an effort to collect needed supplies for healthcare workers, the faculty, students, and staff from the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine (VCOM) rallied to collect Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to assist. To spearhead the effort, VCOM contributed thousands of dollars of PPE equipment from each its four campuses in Virginia, South Carolina, Alabama, and Louisiana to be used in local hospitals to help combat the COVID-19 crisis.
VCOM uses an array of medical PPE for teaching purposes, but since the four campuses are currently using distance learning for classes, the College decided to donate said items to local hospitals. The items included are gloves, bouffant caps, goggles, disposable gowns, face masks, probe covers, thermometers, and temporal scanners. The donated equipment will be replaced after the pandemic has passed.
“Like many other healthcare facilities in the region, these are our partners that provide clinical opportunities for our students,” said Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, VCOM President and Provost. “In times of crisis, like the COVID-19 pandemic, we are committed to doing our part in providing equipment to them, so their employees have protective gear to do their jobs.”
When Hollingsworth & Vose (H&V), a global manufacturer of advanced filtration, battery, and industrial applications with a facility in Floyd, Virginia, heard about VCOM’s effort, it reached out to VCOM to donate 300 N95 masks that will be distributed to Carilion and HCA regional hospitals. The company’s Floyd location develops and manufactures filter media used in surgical masks, N95 masks, medical hoods, and high-efficiency filtration for HVAC systems such as those found in hospitals. These items are critical to multiple supply chains involved in response to the COVID-19 emergency.
From left to right: Accepting the donation of N95 protective masks were Carilion nurse Kathi Hall, VCOM Dean Jan Willcox, DO and Bill Flattery, Carilion New River Valley CEO and VP of Carilion Clinic Western Region.
In donating the N95 masks, Vince Hatcher, H&V Director Southeast Operations, said, “Some of our employees are required to wear N95-type face masks to do their jobs. We had a small quantity of masks that were not immediately needed and recognizing the critical shortage of masks. We felt it was important to make a contribution to protect those on the front lines of this emergency, including hospital workers and first responders. We’re awed by their efforts to protect and care for us as a society.”
“VCOM continues to be a resource to our local community, especially during challenging times. All across the region, people and companies like Hollingsworth & Vose are pulling together and deciding how to best support healthcare workers as they care for the sick. As a medical school, we are very fortunate to be able to donate and work with others to provide much-needed resources to support our local community,” said Dr. Tooke-Rawlins.
Dean Jan Willcox (center) delivers needed PPE equipment to Bill Flattery, CEO of New River Valley Medical Center, and Alan Fabian, CEO of LewisGale Montgomery and their teams. The N95 masks were donated by Hollingsworth & Vose.
A little about Hollingsworth & Vose:
H&V is a 7th generation, family-owned, global manufacturer of advanced materials used in filtration, battery and industrial applications. The Company's origins go back to 1728. Evolving continuously since that time, H&V now operates manufacturing and research development facilities in the US, Mexico, Europe, China and India. H&V's advanced materials contribute to a cleaner world through their use in products that provide clean air, clean liquids and energy storage. H&V's materials can be found in filters for clean rooms, hospitals, computers, commercial buildings, homes, cars, trucks and heavy duty equipment, and also in batteries used mainly in telecommunications and hybrid vehicle applications.
COVID-19:
H&V is critical to multiple supply chains that are supporting the response to the COVID-19 emergency. In Floyd, we develop and manufacture filter media that is used in surgical masks, N95 masks, medical gowns and hoods, and high efficiency filtration for HVAC systems. At other H&V plants, we make filter media used in ventilators, HVAC filtration for medical, residential and commercial settings, HEPA filtration for surgical operating rooms, and filter media for agricultural and construction equipment, on road trucks, and Department of Defense applications. H&V is also a leading manufacturer of battery separator for batteries that are used for emergency back-up power for telecommunications infrastructure (including cellular and 911) and life critical medical equipment in hospitals, in data centers for government buildings and hospitals, and defense applications.
As a company, H&V is currently supplying media that will be used in the fight against COVID-19:
- 40 million N95 facemasks per month
- 40 million medical breathing devices, including ventilators per month
- 20,000 HEPA filters per month used in hospitals and pharmaceutical laboratories
- 1 million surgical hoods per month