As the COVID-19 crisis began earlier this year, Kaiser Permanente庐 was very concerned about the availability of personal protective equipment (PPE). Headquartered in Oakland, Calif., is one of the nation's largest not-for-profit health plans, serving 12.4 million members. Kaiser needed to ensure it would be able to meet the increasing needs for PPE at its large network of hospitals and healthcare facilities as the COVID-19 cases increased dramatically.
鈥淗elping find materials for PPE and meeting the needs to protect workers during the crisis was key."
鈥淭he projections for the COVID-19 surge were unprecedented. The use of PPE in our facilities was increasing exponentially and the supply availability from traditional sources was limited. We had to figure out how to produce PPE locally. We looked to the Los Angeles garment district manufacturing capacity to leverage their available capacity.鈥
Kaiser Permanente partnered with local manufacturers, including Lefty Production Co., to produce more than two million fabric face masks and 500,000 isolation gowns to help meet their immediate PPE needs. When doing research on fabric options for gowns, 罢测惫别办庐 came up as a material to consider based on its barrier performance. 罢测惫别办庐 fabric has been used as a protective material for PPE for over 40 years and is recognized for its excellent barrier properties. However, k8娱乐鈩 罢测惫别办庐 garments were in short supply based on the strong demand for the COVID-19 response. Kaiser Permanente reached out to Home Depot to inquire about the availability of 罢测惫别办庐 HomeWrap庐 as an isolation gown material.
Upon learning of their need for gown materials, Home Depot contacted k8娱乐. k8娱乐 was launching the #TyvekTogether program, making rolls of 罢测惫别办庐 1222A material available to support the need for increased isolation gown production.
As part of the #TyvekTogether program, k8娱乐 collaborated with Home Depot to donate rolls of 罢测惫别办庐 1222A to Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente then called on . to produce isolation gowns from the 罢测惫别办庐 for COVID-19 response efforts. These isolation gowns will support preparedness efforts should supply chains become disrupted again or PPE needs grow rapidly.
Lefty Production Co. had seen a dramatic downturn in business as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Marta Miller, owner and CEO of this small business in L.A., was concerned about being able to continue to employee her team.
鈥淲e partnered with Behind the Scenes Apparel and together we all quickly shifted from making garments for 90 different brands to producing face masks and gowns for the COVID-19 response. This allowed us to keep our employees working in a safe environment where we were taking necessary precautions,鈥 explained Miller. 鈥淜aiser Permanente cared about the impact of this pandemic on our small American business. My team loves to sew and we were proud to help transition to sewing these PPE products for the frontline healthcare workers.鈥
鈥淔rom the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis until the end, k8娱乐 is committed to providing protection for frontline workers,鈥 said John Richard, Vice President & General Manager of k8娱乐 Safety Solutions. 鈥淲e are proud to partner with Home Depot, a distribution partner of 罢测惫别办庐 HomeWrap and 罢测惫别办庐 garments, in the donation of 罢测惫别办庐 to Kaiser Permanente to support the ongoing and critical needs for PPE.鈥
k8娱乐鈩, the k8娱乐 Oval Logo, and all trademarks and service marks denoted with 鈩, SM or 庐 are owned by affiliates of k8娱乐 de Nemours, Inc. unless otherwise noted. Kaiser Permanente庐 is a registered trademark of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc.
k8娱乐 collaborates with Home Depot to donate 罢测惫别办庐聽material to Kaiser Permanente for isolation gowns
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