Engle Dental Dedicates Facility to Make Masks for Healthcare Workers
We’ve all received our fair share of emails from the companies we support letting us know exactly what they’re doing to keep their employees and customers safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But Hillsboro, OR-based Engle Dental, which manufactures large dental equipment such as chairs and delivery units, found itself in a unique position to put those words into action and actually do some good.
By now, we’ve all seen the headlines about medical workers facing a shortage of essential personal protective equipment such as face masks, gloves, and gowns in the wake of this increasingly uncertain health crisis. Jason Rebitzke, General Manager at Engle, was shocked when his sister-in-law, a nurse at a healthcare system in Oregon, told him she had been reusing the same face mask for over 3 days. The only way for her to get a new mask, she shared, is if it becomes visibly soiled or falls apart.
“After talking to her, my heart was broken, but I knew that this was a problem we could help with,” said Rebitzke. “At Engle, we have our own in-house upholstery department and decided to use our resources to make masks for healthcare workers like my sister-in-law who so desperately need them.”
Using patterns provided by the CDC that outline how to make approved masks for healthcare facilities, Engle has now dedicated its upholstery-making facilities to making masks for local hospitals in the Oregon area.
While these are certainly unprecedented times for everyone—including dental practice owners faced with furloughing staff, closing their doors to nonurgent patient care, and agonizing over lost revenue—there is always compassion among the crisis. Engle’s mask-making transformation happened only yesterday, but their goal is a simple one: to quickly make as many masks as they can and get them out to the healthcare works who need them as soon as possible.
