Bauer Hockey Equipment, a company based in New Hampshire, has switched its manufacturing facilities from making hockey gear to making plastic face shields for medical workers responding to the coronavirus.
The Exeter-based company announced Thursday that it is gearing up to manufacture the face shields using its supplies on hand that was slated to be used for protective gear and helmets, Globe News reported.
“We’re repurposing our production facilities to make face shields so that medical professionals battling COVID-19 can safely continue to help those most vulnerable,” Bauer told followers in a Facebook post on Thursday.
“Right now, we’re all playing for the same team,” the company added.
“This is a time that none of us has ever experienced before,” Bauer’s vice-president of global marketing, Mary-Kay Messier, told NHL.com.
“We know these medical shields and other devices are in short supply,” Messier said.
“You think about hockey being team first, and then you also think about the greater community and how connected we are. I think this felt similar in that we needed to unite in this most uncertain time and [have] everybody pick up an oar and start rowing,” Messier added.
Bauer also said that it would sell the shields at cost to best aid the response to the viral outbreak.
The company is set to begin production in its facilities in Blainville, Quebec, and Liverpool, New York.
Bauer has already taken on 100,000 orders for the new shields, and the first orders will head to medical workers in Quebec.
“Frankly, I wish we could do more,” CEO Ed Kinnaly said. “Any way we can help, we’re going to try.”
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