Cranbrook’s Denham Ford has donated face shields to the East Kootenay Foundation for Health (EKFH) to be available for distribution around the region as needed.
Steve Zsillei, Marketing Manager for Denham Ford said Ford Canada partnered with Unifor to begin production of face shields for frontline workers out of their facilities in Windsor. Zsillei said they are now producing approximately 2.5-million face shields for distribution across Canada.
“Ford sent us a box of 100 of them that we can donate to our health care providers,” Zsillei told MyEastKootenayNow.com. “What we’ve done is contacted Brenna (Baker) from the East Kootenay Foundation of Health and I thought that it would be good to give it to her and she can distribute whenever the need arises, hopefully it doesn’t, but it will be there in case we do need it.”
Brenna Baker, Executive Director of EKFH, said the donation fills a major need for the immediate community and surrounding area for personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers.
“There is a need of course for PPE, not only with Interior Health but with some of our community organizations as well, which they are finding hard to get,” said Baker. “These shields will be available as well for organizations such as the Salvation Army or the Food Bank.”
Any organizations working on the frontlines can contact EKFH if they are in need of the face shields.
“We will hold on to them and if Interior Health needs them or if there’s another organization that could use them, we’d be happy to share them amongst the community.”
Also: Medical Equipment Donated in 2017 Becomes Vital Amid Pandemic (May 1, 2020)
Zsillei said they wanted to donate the PPE to EKFH because of their ongoing support for health care services around the region, from distributing the recently donated equipment to annually raising money for significant medical infrastructure including the MRI at East Kootenay Regional Hospital and a new SPEC/CT machine.
“We love the Foundation and we do everything we can, a little bit of different times right now but we do whatever we can,” said Zsillei. “It’s a great organization and it really helps everybody by supporting the foundation.”
“It’s always good to have a good supply of PPE, as we’ve learned throughout our nation that we were short when this whole pandemic started, so there’s going to be a good supply of it now,” added Baker. “Having this extra PPE is going to be very helpful for the future.”
The East Kootenay Foundation for Health is on the last leg of their fundraising efforts for the $1.2-million SPEC/CT machine, which can scan for blood flow, gastrointestinal function, immune system activity, tumours and many other possible ailments.
Previous: Starlite Campaign Aims to Raise Money for Medical Scanner in Cranbrook Hospital (November 18, 2019)
As well, EKFH also launched its new White Heart Project for the community. The initiative is one way the public can express and show their support for the region’s frontline workers.
Read: EKFH Launches White Heart Project for Frontline Workers (April 20, 2020)
