SoClean launched a coalition called Masks4NH to supply 250,000 masks to front-line health care and emergency service workers across the state.
SoClean, which has its corporate offices in Peterborough, makes and distributes CPAP cleaning machines. The company has offices and contacts around the world, and put them to use in finding a reliable producer of face masks in China, CEO Bob Wilkins said Tuesday.
Despite the number of masks they’ve already been able to distribute, SoClean officials say they know it’s only a drop in the bucket when it comes to the need.
Eric Burbank, SoClean’s Vice President of Business Operations, has been one of more than 50 SoClean employees who have been taking the time to deliver face masks across the state. He said the need has been palpable.
“Any time you do charity work, it’s always a feel-good moment,” Burbank said. “But whether you’re talking to people on the phone or delivering it in person, the gratitude these people have over something as seemingly innocuous as a face mask is overwhelming. It’s been very gratifying, but it’s also very eye-opening.”
Burbank said he delivered a shipment of facemasks to New Hampshire Hospital, and was met by the senior administrative hospital, some who were so grateful they shed tears.
“People are genuinely at their wits’ end, trying to do their job, keep their employees and their patients safe. What’s been surprising is how much emotion is being shared with us.”
While it’s a good feeling handing over 1,000 masks to a facility that’s strapped, and has been rationing their supply of personal protective equipment, there’s also a feeling of helplessness, Burbank said, knowing that even 1,000 masks may be supplies for a week or less for some facilities.
“You talk to a lot of nurses and doctors, and you can’t imagine,” Wilkins said. “If your job is to be with people with COVID, there’s the mental stress of that – how long can you go before you get it? It’s just been rugged. I can’t believe what everyone’s been going through.”
Lisa Williams of Hancock, an executive assistant for the company, spent a weekend delivering masks to fire departments and a hospital in the Laconia area.
“We all feel so helpless,” she said. “If there’s something we can do, even if it’s something little, to be part of a band-aid, in any form we can, we want to help.”
Williams said it was “mind-blowing” to realize the rates some hospitals are burning through their protective equipment supply, but each has only been grateful for any assistance offered.
“When we can only say we’ll do the best we can, they always say, ‘Anything. Anything will help.’ They’re appreciative of anything that we can do, even if it only meets their need for three days,” Williams said.
Finding a reliable source for mask production, in itself, is tricky nowadays, Wilkins said. As demand for personal protection equipment has skyrocketed, so have bogus companies looking to scam potential buyers. But SoClean representatives in China were able to visit a potential manufacturer, and ensure that they were legitimate, and SoClean, donating its own funds as well as private donations, secured an order of 250,000 face masks, which they have been distributing to New Hampshire hospitals, EMS workers and fire houses.
Securing a manufacturer was only the first hurdle, though, Wilkins admitted.
Burbank said ordering masks and donating them where they are needed isn’t a straightforward process, particularly when the supplies are coming from overseas. Three weeks ago, when SoClean began its campaign to secure masks for local hospitals, Burbank said supply chains were blocked by restrictions on certain medical supplies coming from China. SoClean worked with Governor Chris Sununu and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen to get exceptions to those rules – which have since been loosened due to the medical crisis.
What shipments of supplies are getting through are often being seized by the federal government and redirected to areas of greatest need, such as New York and California.
That was something Wilkins said SoClean took into account when they decided to ship in masks. While he said the company wanted to help New Hampshire health care workers, and particularly small hospitals low on the priority list for resources and are running low on protective equipment, Wilkins said ultimately, donors said they were okay as long as the masks were being put to use somewhere in the country.
So far, the 250,000 masks that SoClean ordered have been received, and distributed locally. The last of the 250,000 is expected to be donated this weekend. Wilkins said he intends to try to keep the supply line open, and continue to bring in masks, even if it must be at-cost for those in need. For many, the problem isn’t paying for the masks, gloves and gowns, it’s finding a place to purchase them, he said.
With much commercial air travel grounded, including flights that would have been used to transport packages, supply lines are log-jammed, and demand has led to scarce supply.
“There are still real demands on the ground in New Hampshire. And the supply lines are broken,” Burbank said. “For as long as it remains broken, we’ve continued to ask, ‘How can we fill the gap, until it’s back on its feet.’ No one has access to masks right now, and as a nation, everyone needs them.”
To request a delivery to a health organization, email MasksforNH@soclean.com. If people are interested in donating to MasksforNH, they can visit www.soclean.com/masksfornh.