On Sunday, Mar. 29, a Markham dental company reached out to Premier Doug Ford about donating 90,000 surgical masks. Ford responded by driving his pick-up truck to the company’s office to personally transport the masks himself.
The masks, donated by the company Dental Brands, are considered level two masks and will be donated to frontline workers such as hospital staff.
According to a tweet by Toronto lawyer and author Warren Kinsella, Ford did not alert his staff that he was making the trip to Markham to pick up the supplies.
See that guy? That’s Doug Ford, Premier. Dental Brands, a company in Markham, texted him to say they were donating 90,000 masks to hospitals in Ontario. Ford drove to their warehouse and loaded the masks onto his truck. Didn’t tell his staff. #onpoli @fordnation pic.twitter.com/yygtZNXVHf
— Warren Kinsella (@kinsellawarren) March 30, 2020
Another tweet from Amy Fee, the MPP for Kitchener South–Hespeler and the parliamentary assistant in the ministry of children, community and social services, said that the masks were waiting to be delivered to Ontario’s healthcare warehouse.
On Sunday the Premier @fordnation heard that 90,000 face masks were waiting to be donated to Ontario’s healthcare warehouse. Without even telling his staff, the Premier drove his own truck to pick them up and get them delivered. #COVID19 #COVID19Ontario pic.twitter.com/4g5rAZ8sk3
— Amy Fee (@AmyFeePC) March 31, 2020
Dental Brands also posted a note on its Facebook page thanking the owners, Moti and Liat Betesh, for making the donation. The post read: “We at Dental Brands are lucky to be able to help. We are all affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and while we are able to still function and keep our jobs, we want to help the city and all the workers, who are on the front lines.”
Along with the mask donation, the company also donated 4,600 bottles of hand sanitizer.
Concerns continue to rise about the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers in healthcare and other industries across the country, but many private companies are stepping up in the same way Dentals Brands has. In addition to donating equipment, some companies such as Canada Goose have refocused their manufacturing processes to produce equipment such as medical scrubs.
