Pierce County companies retool to provide medical supplies to state during coronavirus
The Washington State Department of Health is relying on three Pierce County manufacturers for hand sanitizer and face shields in the battle against the coronavirus.
Linda Kent with the Department of Enterprise Services said 65 companies across the state have retooled themselves to create needed supplies for health care providers.
Having local partners is helpful in cutting costs of shipping and establishing a dependable relationship, Kent said in a Tuesday briefing to reporters.
Getting face masks, gloves and other medical supplies has proven difficult for states. Washington is waiting for more than 96 percent of ordered personal protection equipment to arrive, according to the most recent data provided by the state.
While most Washington companies are selling directly to hospitals and other health care facilities, the state health department needs its own supply for public health employees and to distribute to facilities that are unable to find supplies elsewhere, Kent said.
The state has spent more than $1.5 million dollars on Heritage Distillery hand sanitizer and face shields from Tool Gauge and GlobalTech Plastics, all of Pierce County.
A Gig Harbor company, Heritage Distillery, switched from producing liquor to hand sanitizer in recent weeks. The Distillery along with Goose Ridge have provided more than 40,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to the Department of Health, Kent said.
Repurposing to create medical supplies has helped pay staff. Heritage told The News Tribune that due to a surge in requests from hospitals, first responders and the state, it is hoping to bring back previously laid off employees.
“Like other companies, we recently underwent a round of layoffs, which was painful for our team,” CEO Justin Stiefel previously said. “The demand we are already seeing for this product means we might be able to call some of those production people back to work.”
Two companies, Tacoma’s Tool Gauge and GlobalTech Plastics in Fife, have been making face shields for the state.
The state has received a combined 235,000 face shields from the two companies, Kent told reporters.
Ron Dean, GlobalTech’s director of business development, said the company can produce between 15,000 and 20,000 face shields a week. A new project can take up to 10 weeks to start production, but workers were able to begin making face shields two weeks after talking with the state.
“There is mindset change to support this cause,” Dean said.
This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 11:05 AM.
