Less than two months ago, Ford was building an F-150 truck every 52 seconds; today, it’s building zero examples of its bestselling model. The coronavirus pandemic shuttered every Ford plant in the world, causing millions of dollars in losses and hundreds of workers laid off. With car production halted and medical workers in need of protective gear, Ford turned some of its Michigan-based automotive factories into medical manufacturing facilities, creating ventilators, face masks, reusable gowns, and face shields. About 3,500 of those reusable face shields arrived this week at the MotorTrend headquarters in El Segundo, California, for donation to Shriners Hospitals for Children in Pasadena, California.
Last week, Ford Motor Company product PR manager Mike Levine reached out to see if MT would be interested in distributing reusable face shields to a hospital or medical center in need. We reached out to Dr. Robert Cho, a friend of MT and the chief of staff at Shriners for Children Medical Center and the answer came back quickly: “Whoa—we could use some face shields and [surgical] gowns.” Dr. Cho quickly set us up with his supply-chain manager Octavio Colón and the delivery wheels were set in motion.
Though Shriners Hospitals are not treating COVID-19 patients, they continue to perform critical surgeries while providing care to children with neuromusculoskeletal conditions, burn injuries, and other special healthcare needs. Just prior to meeting with MT, Dr. Cho performed a critical surgery on a patient from Tijuana, Mexico, and as elective surgeries start to ramp up in the coming weeks, his team will be in need of medical gear. Already the hospital is seeing shortages in protective gear, with the staff having to reuse and re-sterilize N95 masks.
On hand to receive the boxes of Ford-built face shields were a half dozen staffers from Shriners for Children, including Dr. Cho and Wolfgang Kupka, Chairman of the Board of Governors.
“Our 22 facilities are feeling the effect of the global pandemic. All of our supply chain is disrupted in almost all of our personal protective equipment. This donation from MotorTrend and Ford is a real big step for us to keep our patients and families safe,” Dr. Cho said.
Ford’s output has been remarkable. As of Thursday, April 30, 2020, the automaker has assembled more than 6,000 ventilators, 120,000 reusable gowns, and more than 10 million face shields. The company is also producing millions of face masks to provide to its employees once they return to work, and it’s seeking medical certification for these masks for use in hospitals.
At MotorTrend, we couldn’t be happier to assist those on the front lines, and would like to thank Ford Motor Company for producing and donating the much-needed face shields. We hope to distribute more personal protective gear to hospitals in the future.
