Spring 2020 will be remembered as both a scary and pivotal time for our country and world. It was the month that COVID-19, a Coronavirus, got real for millions of Americans. Up until March, it was believed that this was largely a problem from, and for, another part of the world. By the third week of March, we were all too aware of the practice of social distancing, repeated hand washing and the potential that mask wearing would have in keeping us safe. It had also become apparent that supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) were beginning to be in very short supply for most of the nation.
It was in the last week of March when
The Advertisers Printing Company’s
Chief Operating Officer and forth generation principal, Alex Fechner, made the bold decision to utilize our company’s time, talent and technologies to begin generating face shields for front line healthcare workers in our local St. Louis community hospitals and medical schools. We sourced acrylic mylar through our merchant supply chain and began die-cutting this material with a little assistance from a friend, and fellow printer “Hatteras” on the east coast. Bill
Duerr
, President of Hatteras, was very helpful in lending die templates and his enthusiastic design knowledge.
All in all, The Advertisers Printing Co. manufactured and donated 3,200 face shields to approximately 20 different healthcare institutions. Their reaction was one of sheer joy, relief and warm appreciation. The lesson here is that although this virus and pandemic were a new foe to be battled, our company ethos of conscious capitalism and a “can-do” spirit reminded us of our cultural roots. You see the company has always placed our stakeholders and the environment first. Clients, co-workers and community have always been our guiding north star, with equal focus on people, profit & planet. Which is why we have been such strong advocates of SGP for all these years. A perfect philosophical alignment.
Written by: John Heaney, SVP Sales; The Advertisers Printing Co & SGP Board Member
Pictured Above:
:
Dr Robert M. Heaney MD - Internal Medicine & teaching Physician at St. Louis University School of Medicine
