Company Expands Plastic Offering for Protective Face Shields
Global materials science expert Milliken & Co. is once again leveraging its unique capabilities to help produce needed medical personal protective equipment (PPE) amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The current shortage in plastic materials used for protective face shields is leading manufacturers to offer the readily available polypropylene plastic.
The material, however, is naturally hazy, so plastic manufacturers are turning to Milliken & Co.’s NX UltraClearTM polypropylene concentrate to produce plastics with clarity levels suitable for health care industry face shields.
Milliken has collaborated with a number of plastic manufacturers, from global players to regionally based companies, to evaluate NX UltraClearTM in this new product application. Medical face shields made with NX UltraClearTM polypropylene are now in the market and being used by frontline workers.
“We are committed to finding solutions that assist our customers and allow us to join in the fight against COVID-19 wherever we can make a difference,” said Halsey Cook, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Milliken & Co.
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Medical Grade Fabric Makes 5 Million Gowns for Health Care Workers
Precision Textiles, a Totowa, N.J., supplier of coated fabrics, nonwovens, and laminations for the bedding, automotive, health care, and home furnishings industries, has sold more than 10 million yards of its newly launched Medical Gown Series fabric line, enough material to produce 5 million hospital gowns.
The milestone supports the growing demand for domestically produced medical gowns for health care personnel on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. In early April, the company pivoted its operations to manufacturing medical grade fabrics for use in hospital gowns, a key piece of PPE in short supply as health care systems across the United States reached capacity with patients. The materials provide gown manufacturers with a domestic resource to replace imported fabrics, which can have longer lead times.
The company’s Medical Gown Series fabric line includes materials suitable to produce Levels 1 through 4 one-time use and multi-use medical gowns for low- to high-risk environments. The comfortable fabrics include a variety of polyester and polypropylene fibers and trilaminate fabrics. Some of the fabrics also include waterproof and washable attributes.
“Over the last few months, this segment of our business has grown rapidly. Now, we are running at full capacity to help bridge the gap with domestic supply to meet the increased demand quickly as sales continue to grow,” said Scott Tesser, CEO of Precision Textiles.
Product May Reduce Major Health, Financial Toll on Facilities, residents
Every year, thousands of pairs of eyewear are either lost or misplaced at senior living facilities and are never recovered. Residents leave their glasses in the social areas, physical therapy rooms, lunchrooms, and on food trays in their own rooms.
A facility loses a resident’s glasses by throwing them out with the food on the lunch tray or breaking them by washing eyeglasses left in a resident’s sheets.
It is extremely difficult to mark the small ends of a pair of eyeglasses with a resident’s name or room number. So, how can a facility remedy this problem?
Eyeglass Rescue is one product that addresses all of these issues.
The product consists of a latex-free identification sleeve, like tubing, that fits around the end of the eyeglasses and is heat-shrunk onto the glasses. Each identification sleeve comes pre-printed with a unique identification number.
Every order includes a chart that contains a list of all of the identification numbers on the sleeves in the order. Staff write the patient’s name on the chart next to the identification number on the Eyeglass Rescue sleeve. When the identification sleeve is attached, staff are able to readily identify the owner.