Hemlock Semiconductor Donates 15,000 PPE Items to Covenant HealthCare

source: Hemlock Semiconductor

With the coronavirus outbreak leaving hospitals short on medical supplies, Hemlock Semiconductor Operations (HSC) was asked to donate personal protect equipment (PPE) from its supplies. The chemical manufacturer wasn’t sure it would have much on hand, but after scouring the plant, workers found more than 15,000 masks, coveralls, gloves and other materials that health care workers at Covenant could use. Covenant has four main campuses in and around Saginaw as well as other staff serving in 14 surrounding counties.

“Everyone needs to be all in when it comes to helping our health care workers on the front lines dealing with Covid-19,” said HSC Chairman and CEO Mark Bassett. “We’re happy we can do our part by donating this personal protection equipment to help keep health care workers in the Great Lakes Bay Region safe and able to treat area residents during this public health crisis.”

The roundup of PPE supplies at Hemlock Semiconductor included checking supply cabinets throughout the sprawling industrial plant that employs 1,500 people to collect N95/H95 masks. By the time the search was completed, three pallets of materials were ready to be loaded on a Covenant truck. Supplies included:

980 N95/R95 masks
175 disposable Tyvek protective coveralls and 150 disposable Tyvek protective coats
150 clean room hoods
196 pair of safety glasses
60 pair of goggles
15 face shields
750 pair of sterile latex gloves
5,000 hairnets
5,000 facial/beard covers
4,100 boot or shoe covers

Stacey Klump, a nurse who serves as the Covenant Director of Medical Surgical Department/Resource Team/Patient Services Support, said the health care system has been actively identifying and allocating resources to ensure staff have the personal protection supplies they will need.

“I cannot tell you how much it means to us to know you took the time to search through cabinets to find these N95s for us. It is like Christmas when these are handed out!” Klump told HSC in an email. “As a nurse, you know what needs to be done and you do it, but in the back of our minds, we are still people with families, young children, and elderly parents that we fear we might place at risk by doing what we do. This will allow us to continue to do what we do best; and that is to serve.

“We are proud to have such amazing community partnership in the Great Lakes Bay Region,” she added.

HSC is working with others in the community to help in any way it can. It urged others to find out how they can support the community during the COVID-19 outbreak by going to the PPE donations page on the website for THRIVE, the collaborative initiative serving the Great Lakes Bay Region: https://bit.ly/2QWfmHk.