The pandemic pivot: Edmonton businesses retool to join COVID-19 fight

Demand for many products might be down these daysbut several Edmonton companies are rushing to change their production lines and bottom lines to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

For 75 years, the Edmonton companyCowan Graphics Inc. has been printing advertising and marketing materials.

Now the firm is manufacturing thousands of face shields, sneeze guards and floor signs for hospitals and businesses on the front lines of the pandemic.

Vice-president Dustin MacMillan said the company has acted quickly to meet two goals.

"One is obviously keep our families out of the unemployment system, employed, and give them security of work," he said."And the second is to ensure we are educating our communities on physical distancing."

Demand for face shieldsin particularhas skyrocketed in North America, MacMillan said.

The company has raw materials to assemble 150,000 shields and is currently producing about 2,000 per day.

The company has already turned down requests for orders from the United States so it can satisfy Canadian demand.

With costs rising and other business decreasing, the company has still suffered financially due to COVID-19, MacMillan said, but the hope isto break even with the sale of thenew products.

Making masks for hospitals

Gear Halo, in Sturgeon Industrial Park north of the city, typically makes deodorizing pods used forsprucingup sports equipment.

Now that team sports have all but evaporated, the company has pivoted to produce barrier masks for health-care workers.

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It took the company eight days to program its sewing machines, order elastic cord and produce the first masks, which can be worn alone or over a N95 mask as an additional barrier.

The first batch will be donated to the University of Alberta Hospital this week.

National sales managerPeter Konidas said the company is not looking to profit from selling the masks.

"There will be a portion that we will sellbut priority will always be given to the hospitals in need," he said.

Sewing scrub bags

After Edmonton hairdresser Jennifer Dinh stopped working, she sought other ways to fill her days.

She quickly took up sewing and started making scrub bags for health-care workers at the MisericordiaCommunity Hospital.

Scrub bags can be used to carry and dump used clothing into a washing machine.

Dinh heard about demand for thebags online and joined a Facebook groupofpeople willing to donate fabric and organize deliveries.

Willow Creek Quilts, a company in the southern Alberta town of Claresholm, is now providing a free scrub-bag pattern for sewerson its website.

Sewing the bags, Dinh said, has been therapeutic for many people in the group, herself included.

"Being in isolation, we needed an outlet to show our appreciation, and this really helped us do that," she said.