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As the COVID-19 pandemic reached the Portland-metro area, a massive shortfall of personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care professionals quickly became evident.

With hospitals, clinics and first responders geared up for day-to-day operations, stocks of crucial equipment such as N95 respirators and filters, latex gloves, gowns and face shields were already low. Then a sudden and massive increase in PPE usage in health care settings led administrators to scramble for answers.

A number of building industry organizations became aware of the situation and stepped up to help. Because certain types of PPE, particularly N95 respirators, are widely used in construction, many firms were in a position to act quickly.

鈥淚 have neighbors who are in the medical profession, or that have family members who are, and there is a real and serious shortage of personal protective equipment throughout the region,鈥� said Ryan Baker, a Mackenzie senior associate and a member of its structural engineering team. 鈥淲e’re all thinking about the safety of our first responders and medical professionals who are doing everything they can to keep us healthy while, at the same time, considering the safety and health of their own families.鈥�

After reading an email from a Portland Neighborhood Emergency Team, Baker suggested to Mackenzie’s disaster recovery task force and business continuity team that the firm donate its unused N95 masks from employee work kits. Mackenzie employees Cesar Villanueva and Mike Rueter then coordinated a company-wide roundup and delivered the masks to the designated Multnomah County drop-off site.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to homegrown solutions. Agencies are seeking specific equipment, which should be unused and in good condition. This includes latex-free gloves (sealed boxes only); procedural masks; surgical masks; N95 respirators and N95 filters; other respirators such as P100s and PAPRs, and associated supplies and parts; face shields; splash shields; gowns; hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes.

鈥淲e first started talking about it around March 17 or 18 as news stories started coming out,鈥� said Kirsten Adams, public affairs counsel for the Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter. 鈥淎s soon as we started hearing about the need, we tried to do something about it. Someone with OHSU reached out to me, and they were looking for PPE, so we were thinking about how to get this information out to our members and how do we act as a conduit for this.鈥�

AGC quickly created a COVID-19 web page for members and issued a plea for donations at its March 20 board meeting. The group first connected with the Oregon Health Authority and its Salem drop site before coordinating with Oregon Health & Science University on another drop site in the South Waterfront District.

鈥淲e want to make it as easy as possible to get this into the hands of the people who need it most,鈥� Adams said. 鈥淲e’ve given our members as many options as we can.鈥�

Trade groups, including unions, also responded to the call for PPE.

鈥淲e’re reaching out to everybody we know in our industry, and we’ve been able to collect a bunch of extras (N95 masks) from contractors who’ve had them,鈥� said Robert Camarillo, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council. 鈥淲e were among the first group to be contacted.鈥�

Camarillo added that unions around the country are mounting similar efforts.

鈥淚 talked to a business manager and he was dropping (equipment) off at a fire station earlier in the day,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd he said it was impressive to see how many people were donating.鈥�

The AFL-CIO, added, has been doing the same around the country.

鈥淭hat’s the labor movement jumping into action,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verybody is making the necessary adjustments to adapt and help where they can, and we want to be there too.鈥�

Other individual firms around the metro area are stepping up.

鈥淲e found and donated a few boxes that we had available to the hospitals,鈥� said Todd Duwe, director of business development for Perlo Construction. 鈥淲e are actually making our own masks currently. We gave away our N95s for the health care workers. We donated what we had to our health care clients we work with, so we are making our own now.鈥�

The latter is a story in its own right.

鈥淲e have our own in-house counsel; she happens to be a seamstress,鈥� Duwe said. 鈥淪o she is making an initial batch of 500 (face masks) right now. In between looking at these Washington contract review items, she is sewing masks; I am not kidding. Everybody in the company is shifting a little to deal with this.鈥�

Villanueva said early preparation, including Mackenzie’s creation of a disaster recovery task force, allowed action to be taken immediately.

鈥淭he team put in a lot of effort years ago to provide each employee with a small waist pack that had some basic first aid items and supplies to assist them in an emergency situation,鈥� he said. 鈥淕athering the N95 masks from those (packs) and dropping them off was the least that we could do. We were so happy to be able to help, and just聽thankful to our frontline medical teams.鈥�

Awareness is critical, Adams said.

鈥淲e’re trying to keep it at the forefront of people’s minds,鈥� she said. 鈥淕athering hand sanitizers is a real need, and we’re trying to do as many little things like that as we can.鈥�