Less than a year after setting up a new factory in Ville Saint Laurent, in a record time of barely 3 months in the midst of the epidemic, Medicom today produces masks there exclusively for contracts signed with governments. From Quebec and Canada.
Si l’usine de Ville-Saint-Laurent roule aujourd’hui à pleine capacité, Medicom souhaite en faire plus: un don de 500 000 masques de procédures destinés à Banques alimentaires Québec, qui approvisionnent en denrées alimentaires près de 1200 organizations à Quebec. This was announced on March 12th.
For nearly a year now, the pandemic has highlighted the importance of ensuring local production of personal protective equipment. For Medicom, a donation of one million masks will allow this organization, which has seen an increase in requests for food aid by 30 to 40% since the start of the pandemic, to continue its mission in complete safety.
“The wonderful work that Quebec’s food banks have been doing since the pandemic has made a difference to many Quebecer residents who found themselves unemployed overnight and to families who had a harder time making ends meet. So, with great humility, we hand in over 500,000 masks that we produced. In Montreal, to support banks in their honorable mission of providing food aid to vulnerable people, ”said Guillaume Laverdor, Medicom’s chief of operations.
Since the entire production of procedural masks and N95 masks produced at the Saint-Laurent plant is for supply contracts with the governments of Quebec and Canada, the Medicom team has worked hard to produce half a million surplus units for the Quebec Food Bank.
“The pandemic has imposed additional stress on the daily operations of our members who wish to ensure the health and safety of their employees, volunteers and beneficiaries. We are very grateful for this donation from Medicom which allows the network to continue focusing on its primary mission of combating food insecurity in their region in a safe manner,” Véronique emphasized. Beaulieu-Fowler, Director of Communications and Philanthropy at Food Bank Quebec.
Every year, Medicom team members from all over the world meet in Montreal. In 2020, due to the pandemic, this annual gathering was not possible. Determined to find the positive side of the situation, Medicom decided to donate the substantial savings realized (cost of plane tickets, hotel nights, room rentals, etc.) to World Central KitchenIt is an international non-governmental organization that fights against food insecurity around the world.
The entire Medicom team wants to join government initiatives and many organizations that pay tribute to the direct and indirect victims of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“COVID-19 has outpaced a lot of people in Quebec, Canada and around the world. These people left very quickly and left their families and communities in mourning. They will remain in the collective memory of Medicom and our expanded team. Nous souhaitons également prendre un moment pour remercier nos anges gardiens et travailleille essentiels qui ont été au front depuis le jour un pour s’assurer de nous protéger et de nous permettre de continuer à avoir une certaine normalité dans notre quotidien », a conclu M. green.
The announcement was also attended, at the Medicom plant, by Ronald Rubin, CEO and founder, John Turlas, President of North America, Frederick Lingat, Executive Assistant to the CEO, and Gail Padviskas, Vice President of Marketing.
The Medicom Group is one of the world’s leading manufacturers and distributors of high-quality, single-use, infection prevention and control products for the medical, dental, industrial, animal health, laboratory, commercial and pharmaceutical markets. Medicom distributes infection control products under the brands Medicom, Ritmed, Kolmi, Hopen, Ocean Pacific and Hedy. Medicom subsidiaries include Kolmi-Hopen in France, Medicom Asia in Hong Kong, United Medical Enterprise in the United States, KHM Engineering in Singapore and Medicom HealthPro Limited in the United Kingdom.
Medicom was founded in 1988 in response to the urgent need for medical gloves for healthcare professionals during the global HIV crisis. Since then, the company has become a trusted provider of infection control solutions during multiple outbreaks of diseases, including bird flu, SARS, H1N1, Ebola and COVID-19.
For more than 30 years, the Quebec Food Bank Network has supported and represented across Quebec 19 Moissons (Sorting, Distribution and Storage Center), 13 Associates (organizations covering the North Shore, Gaspé and Islands -de-la-Madeleine) and 1,200 affiliated local community organizations Our members serve more than 500,000 hungry people every month. The grid model enables nutrients to be recovered and redirected throughout the food chain. This unique structure promotes nutrient recovery and reduces environmental impact. Thus, Quebec food banks ensure the equitable sharing of food and financial donations across Quebec, ensuring that resources, expertise and information are pooled so that their members can respond more effectively to Quebecers, vulnerable people in vulnerable situations.
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