FALL RIVER, Mass. — May 14, 2020 — This week, Bolger & O’Hearn donated 400 pounds of hand sanitizer to Rhode Island’s Lifespan health system. The donation was delivered this afternoon to Rhode Island Hospital in Providence.
The hand sanitizer will be used throughout the Lifespan system to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. The gift to Lifespan is the third large donation of hand sanitizer Bolger & O’Hearn has manufactured in its Fall River, Massachusetts, plant since the COVID-19 crisis began. To make these donations — which now represent over 1,300 pounds of hand sanitizer and would equal 2,600 individual 8 ounce bottles — B&O has diverted part of its manufacturing capability and tapped the company’s supply chain.
In March, B&O donated over 200 gallons of hand sanitizer to the city of Fall River for use by the fire department and front line workers to support city operations. Bolger & O’Hearn has been located in Fall River since 1969.
In April, Bolger & O’Hearn donated over 700 pounds of hand sanitizer to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, which is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. That donation of hand sanitizer was distributed in 4.6 ounce bottles to residents of underserved Boston communities, where hand sanitizer was either not available or affordable, to help fight the COVID-19 pandemic in New England.
Today’s 400 pound donation went to Lifespan, a five-partner, not-for-profit health system based in Providence, R.I. Formed in 1994, Lifespan includes The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University: Rhode Island Hospital and its Hasbro Children’s Hospital; The Miriam Hospital; and Bradley Hospital, Newport Hospital and Gateway Healthcare.
Bolger & O’Hearn is best known for making specialty chemicals for the textile industry, including fluorine-free, high powered durable water repellents that are being used in the manufacturing of PPE.
“Bolger & O’Hearn is a long established business here in the greater Providence regional area and we see this as a small role we can play helping our community during the pandemic,” Murphy said. “This is a time for all of us to pull together and do what we can to help others, save lives and support those who are risking their lives to save ours. It’s the least we can do.”
B&O has plans to continue sourcing materials, as they can, to manufacture and donate hand sanitizer to front line workers in New England.
Bolger & O’Hearn is helping to fight the COVID-19 pandemic on other fronts, as well. This includes working closely with other leaders of the US textile industry to develop medical textiles and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including masks, gowns, bed coverings, hospital room drapes and more.
“In particular, we are seeing a high demand for the durable water repellents (DWRs) we have developed for high-end performance apparel brands,” Murphy said. B&O’s DWR’s, which include fluorine-free Altopel F3 and Stormproof/Breathable OmniBloq®, provide resistance to fluid penetration, splatter and soils and offer a much higher level of barrier protection for both woven and nonwoven textiles than standard DWR’s.
In addition, employees at B&O are making masks from test fabric that has been treated at the plant with B&O’s high powered barrier DWR’s. Those masks are being given to employees, family, friends, customers and area first responders.
Posted May 14, 2020
Source: Bolger and O’Hearn
