Guelph based Canadian Solar company imported 60,000 medical masks for health professionals in Ontario facing a severe shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE).
The masks were donated from facilities in China who had a surplus of PPE.
“They were in very critical need a couple of months ago but as China has sort of turned the corner, they have found themselves with quantities of masks that they are able to donate to help overseas,” said Dylan Marx, vice-president of operations at Canadian Solar adding that the company has 10,000 employees in China, the highest number of their employees in any region.
Out of the 60,000 masks, Marx donated 6,000 masks — which includes 2,000 N95 masks and 4,000 surgical masks — to Mayor Cam Guthrie to donate to health care professionals in the city.
The masks came in numerous boxes that read ‘we shall overcome,’ in both English and Mandarin.
“We look at this as the absolute least we could do and we wish we could do more,” said Marx.
Marx is currently working with the Ontario Ministry of Health to donate a portion of the remaining 54,000 to facilities that need it the most in the province. He will also be donating some to hospitals in Vancouver and Edmonton.
“Regardless of what industry you’re in, every industry, every business wants to do whatever they can to help, especially those of us who are not working in healthcare and try to do our part which is essentially just staying home keeping out of their way,” said Marx.
“Canadian Solar is definitely proud to be part of a Guelph community and I think this is really really small relative to the scale and scope that our paramedics and health care workers are up against and even the essential workers that are keeping the groceries running and all of the other services that we rely on.”
