The world was brought to its knees this year by an unseen enemy. COVID-19 pushed our health community to the brink of disaster and devastated the very supplies depended upon to keep people safe. The extreme PPE shortages have been an incredibly dangerous challenge to frontline workers. While many companies tried to make disposable PPE equipment donations, their efforts were simply not enough to keep up with the demand. In some cases, first responders had to resort to using garbage bags for protection.
Finding a solution to help protect doctors, nurses, and first responders while they were intubating patients was critical. There needed to be a device that could help as many hospitals and healthcare workers as possible that could be safely used repeatedly. One such device is The Intubation Box.
Designed by Dr. Yung Lai of Taiwan, the Intubation Box is a temporary protective device that works by sitting over the head and shoulders of a patient during the intubation process. The edges needed to be sealed with a watertight barrier, and it turned out that Flex Tape was the ideal sealant. And just like that, Flex Tape was able to be used in a way that continues to help thousands of people stay safe during this pandemic.
There are moments when the universe seems to align to help people come together, pool their resources, and make a difference to the communities they call home. When Mike Adams, Chief Commercial Officer for OrthoSpine Partners, based in Scottsdale, AZ, reached out to help provide needed materials and support in the production and distribution of Intubation Boxes nationwide, we jumped at the opportunity.
Flex Seal is a family owned and operated business. We genuinely care about each other and our community. Our production studio was transformed into an Intubation Box shop, with dozens of people scouring the country for materials, arranging for deliveries, and building the boxes one by one. Every person in the company stepped up to help, calling friends and family all around the country to get as many boxes into the hands of those who needed them. When it took too long to ship the boxes to hospitals in New York, one of our guys stepped up and offered to drive the Flex Seal truck up to NYC packed with boxes. There was no hesitation. We were given the chance to make a difference and to pull together as a company to actually create a device that can help in the face of PPE deficits. How could we not do everything we could?
Not long after we began to produce the boxes, we received large orders for Flex Tape to aid in COVID relief efforts from Haugland Group, a NY-based firm constructing ACF tents. They were struggling to find a product to secure the tents, but when a team member brought in a roll of Flex Tape from home, it did the job! The tape arrived just in time, and helped keep the tents damage-free, just as the area was hit with a nor’easter that lashed at the cloth fabric with 50 mph winds. We are grateful that we were able to donate these desperately needed supplies.
Since we partnered with OrthoSpine, we have been able to help them produce over 500 boxes and assist in their distribution to over 250 hospitals nation-wide. Unlike masks and other disposable PPE equipment, the Intubation Box is reusable and is therefore still continuing to help frontline workers as the number of COVID cases unfortunately appears to be on the rise once more. We’re grateful to have helped create more awareness and support for reusable PPE devices like the Intubation Box.
Our efforts received 137 online article pickups with a potential reach of 63,000,000 readers. Collectively our social media content revolving around COVID-19 and our efforts have received over 6,000,000 impressions to date. It has been heartwarming to see such an overwhelmingly positive response to our COVID efforts, reaching millions of people nationwide. Additionally, because of his efforts surrounding the Intubation Box production, Phil Swift received a hero nomination and was featured in The Hero Edition, presented by Awareness Ties™. The edition has had over 12,300,000 reads since the publication has been out.
