Tory riding associations donate 100K face shields
Hoping to provide an extra layer of protection to hospital employees, local Tories joined together to collect 100,000 face shields that were handed over to Windsor Regional Hospital on Wednesday.
The Windsor-west and Windsor-tecumseh Progressive Conservative riding associations used contacts in Toronto to tap into a company to manufacture and deliver 100,000 face shields to the hospital. The first transport truck with 50,000 of the shields arrived Wednesday afternoon.
“We were looking into what we can do to help the community,” said Tony Francis, president of the provincial Progressive Conservative party's Windsor West association. “One of our board members had some contacts and friends in Toronto.”
Toronto-based Aclick Inc., a signage and safety product company, agreed to manufacture and donate 100,000 face shields to the local group, which includes the Windsor-tecumseh riding association for the Conservatives led by president Scott Duquette.
“We decided to co-ordinate this, and the first thing was to verify the quality standards for the face shields,” Francis said. “The last thing we wanted to do was donate something (to the hospital) that might not work. Once we verified the quality of the product, we got everything done from there.”
The first transport truck arrived Wednesday carrying about half of the face shields with the remainder scheduled to arrive with a second shipment on Thursday.
The donation of the face shields was greatly appreciated by the hospital given the current crisis with COVID-19 numbers continuing to spike and a growing number of virus-related patients, said Gisele Seguin, director of public affairs for Windsor Regional Hospital.
“On behalf of the Windsor Regional Hospital team, we are extremely grateful to Aclick and their local friends for providing this much-needed supply of PPE,” Seguin said. “It could not have come at a better time.
“Face shields provide an effective physical barrier against liquids and airborne droplets. These 100,000 shields will go a long way to helping to equip our staff and keep patients safe while in our care.”
The two local riding associations covered all the costs for the face shields to be transported to Windsor.
“The people working in the hospitals right now are doing an awesome job,” Francis said. “We thought this might be something we can do to make their life a little easier and safer.
“I have family members who work in the hospital and so do some of our other board members. This was just one thing we could do to give back, but we can't do enough for them in my mind.”