Community Support Provides Essential PPE to St. John’s

Thank you to our generous “extended family” of area companies, volunteers, and the many talented, caring individuals for donating materials, equipment, and hard work to help provide essential personal protective equipment (PPE) as we battle through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you to food packaging provider Pactiv for donating large rolls of plastic to be used to create face shields for our front line workers. Thank you to OptiPro Systems for using their expertise and water jet equipment to cut, clean, and inspect these pieces, resulting in over 2,000 face shields.

St. John’s Assistant Director of Nursing Julie Wood stressed the importance of  securing additional personal protective equipment. “ Supply of PPE has been challenging through our current vendors,” said Wood.  “Face shields provide a second barrier, when used with a face mask, and help protect the eyes, nose, and mouth from droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or even talks. After securing donated plastic and working with a company that offered to donate the work to cut and clean the shields, we now have ample face shields in house to continue providing staff with the protective equipment they need.”

Thank you to all of the volunteers who provided face masks for employees and residents of St. John’s. Special thanks go out to Excelsus Solutions for pivoting their normal work to provide 200 masks to St. John’s.

Thank you to all of the seamstresses and sewists who donated their time and efforts to help create protective gowns for long-term care staff.

Thank you to everyone who has reached out to help! Your efforts mean the world to the St. John’s organization.