California Receives Largest PPE Donation To-Date From ICU Health
California Receives Largest PPE Donation To-Date From ICU Health (a division of ICU Eyewear, Inc.) to Support Essential Workers
Uber Freight & Direct Relief Partner with the State to Get Critical PPE to Essential Workers
With COVID-19 spreading rapidly across multiple regions in the state, California has received its largest donation of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to-date from California-based company ICU Health.
ICU Health’s donation of 5 million disposable masks and 5 million face shields will be distributed directly to support local communities. The PPE donation comes at a critical point in the pandemic as skyrocketing cases push healthcare systems near capacity.
Providing PPE to essential workers is an important part of COVID-19 response by augmenting existing efforts and supplies to protect the health and safety of those in our critical sectors.
“California is grateful for the generous donations and partnerships that in turn directly supports California’s essential workers,” said Abby Browning, Chief, Cal OES Office of Private Sector and NGO Coordination. “In true holiday spirit during these challenging times, we see many organizations coming together doing what they can to strengthen our response to the pandemic.”
Throughout the pandemic, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) has partnered with businesses and organizations to distribute additional supplies of PPE to California’s essential workers.
“We are thrilled to be able to donate to the state of California and honored that our masks and face shields will be used for the protection of California’s essential workers. To those workers, we offer a heartfelt thank you, for all that you have done and all that you continue to do,” says Kirk Hobbs, CEO, ICU Health.
The California Department of Food and Agriculture worked with county Agricultural Commissioners to identify needs and coordinate distribution of the 5 million disposable masks. The masks will be distributed to agricultural workers in 19 counties: Del Norte, Fresno, Humboldt, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Merced, Napa, Orange, San Diego, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sonoma, Tehama and Tulare.
Further building upon partnerships, Uber Freight and Direct Relief have joined the pandemic response effort. Transportation of the face shields to various locations will be provided by Uber Freight. The remaining PPE will be part of the state’s supply that gets distributed to local communities in need by Cal OES and Direct Relief.
Cal OES’ Office of Private Sector and NGO Coordination has a strong history of working through partnerships with private sector, philanthropic, and non-governmental organizations during emergency response and recovery, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, the 2018 Camp Fire, 2017 North Bay Fires and numerous other emergencies.
If you are a business or organization interested in donating supplies, please visit www.covid19supplies.ca.gov to learn how.
About ICU Health
ICU Health is a division of ICU Eyewear, a US based, FDA-registered company that has been in business for over 70 years.
Amidst COVID-19 Surge, U.S. Based ICU Health Will Donate 5 Million Face Masks and 5 Million Face Shields – Seeks Organizations in Need
ICU Eyewear and Contour Optik Heed the Call and Expand Production Capacity to Hundreds of Millions of PPE
HOLLISTER, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ICU Eyewear (ICU), in partnership with Contour Optik, has pivoted its production resources to meet our country’s urgent need for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and COVID-19 test kits. Nationwide demand for PPE has far exceeded supply, putting healthcare workers and other essential service providers at risk. ICU has significant capacity, resources and relationships in the medical supply industry, and protection for healthcare providers is ICU’s top priority. Bottom Line: ICU has the ability to supply bulk quantities of PPE now.
“We are working with our partner companies in China to assist them in going through the FDA regulatory process. This ensures that our products meet U.S standards so they can be imported and placed into the hands of the providers who need them,” says ICU CEO Kirk Hobbs.
ICU is able to produce and ship the following in mass quantities:
- N95 face masks
- KN95 (Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for the KN95 is underway)
- ASTM Levels 1, 2, and 3 face masks
- Goggles, face shields, gloves and other protective equipment
For example, ICU can manufacture KN95’s at a rate of 1 million per day, and ASTM Levels 1 and 2 face masks at a rate of over 5 million per day.
ICU is also North America’s exclusive agent for Mole Bioscience. Together we are working to get COVID-19 test kits to market as quickly as possible. The FDA’s requisite EUA process is underway and once that approval is granted, tests will be available immediately.
“ICU and Contour are pleased to be donating a total of 100,000 masks and 50,000 face shields to medical organizations in underserved communities throughout the state of California in this time of great need,” added David Chao, Contour Optik chief executive officer.
About ICU/Contour Optik Partnership
ICU Eyewear is a California-based company that has been in business for 20+ years. We are an FDA-certified supplier of eyewear focused on the retail channel with customers including Target, Whole Foods and Office Depot.
Given the need for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) due to the Covid-19 epidemic, we have focused significant resources on the production, importation and distribution of PPE and Covid-19 test kits. We are able to support the emergency demand for these materials in the United States because Contour has specialized knowledge and experience in the production of PPE. It was drafted by the Chinese government to produce surgical goggles and face shields during the peak of their own COVID-19 crisis. As a member of the consortium of companies called upon to produce PPE for the Chinese outbreak, Contour developed connections and relationships throughout the Chinese PPE supply-chain. Contour and ICU have developed supply relationships with key manufacturers for all of the PPE items, and are currently taking purchase orders and delivering.