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QUEENS, N.Y. April 22, 2020
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, individuals and businesses alike have joined together to support medical personnel, first responders, drivers, store employees, and all those who continue to work as the essential workforce. Rosco Vision Systems, an automotive vision safety manufacturer located in Queens, NY, has joined initiatives to help supply much-needed PPE and equipment to medical workers. New York State is the hardest-hit state in the U.S., with the most positive cases of COVID-19 and the most deaths resulting from COVID-19.
Before the pandemic hit New York earlier this year, Rosco formed a Coronavirus Committee within the company to stay ahead of emergency situations and help protect all employees' health and job security. Weeks ahead of the peak in New York, Rosco split the workforce into two shifts to create manufacturing social distancing and implemented overtime hours for manufacturing employees to prepare for a shutdown when needed. “As a Member Partner of the Critical Manufacturing Sector of the Department of Homeland Security, we moved quickly to make sure that we maintained our operation for our customers who are critical to the Defense Industrial Base, the Transportation sector, and so many other vital sectors,” said Ben Englander, Rosco’s CEO. Rosco is part of the essential workforce supply chain for markets including military, school buses, fire & rescue, transit buses, commercial buses, trucks, delivery/work vans, etc. Rosco worked tirelessly to ensure all customers’ needs were met before any potential shutdown.
As a preemptive measure during the projected apex of COVID-19 in NYC, Rosco shut down manufacturing facilities for 10 days from April 1st -10th, 2020, for a professional deep clean of the 150,000 sq. ft. location and offices. During this halt in manufacturing, Rosco concentrated efforts on 3D printing ventilator splitters, assembling face shields, and working with suppliers to source and donate PPE for healthcare workers in the local community.
Rosco connected with Keep Breathing, Inc., a nonprofit founded by Angel Pai and Timothy Phillips, created in evolving response to provide COVID-19 relief. Keep Breathing is comprised of a team of multidisciplinary philanthropists formed to provide open-source designs, as well as manufacture and donate 3D-printed ventilator splitters, intubation boxes, ear savers, and PAPR(powered air purifying respirators) for medical staff on the front line. This fully volunteer-based, grassroots organization grew to over 300 individual volunteers and companies in less than 3 days, sparking worldwide initiatives in over 10 countries. Using 3D printer files designed by Philip Sweeting, vast groups of volunteers were deployed for printing, including Rosco. “We could not have accomplished what we set out to do so fluidly and efficiently had the world not stepped up to join forces, unified in this one mission to help save lives,” said Angel Pai. The ventilator splitters and ear savers have been donated to the NY State of Health and directly to hospitals such as Elmhurst, Maimonides, Bellevue, and Mt. Sinai for testing and made available for use in the case of emergency.