RICHMOND — When the Bay Area shelter-in-place orders were imposed in mid-March, it proved to be the spark that transformed a small foam factory into the latest ally in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
Mike Handelsman, president and owner of Foam Order.com, shut down his factory after March 17 and said on the company’s website that operations would be suspended for several weeks. FormOrder, which has been in business since 1999, makes indoor and outdoor replacement and custom foam cushions, as well as latex mattresses and toppers.
But because of the nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) — items like face shields, goggles and glasses, gowns, head covers, masks and respirators that protect against germs — Handelsman said he immediately began getting calls asking about “foam for PPE.”
“That was where the light bulb went off that we could repurpose our production, help solve the shortage, and put our workers back to work,” Handelsman said.
RICHMOND, CA – APRIL 01: FoamOrder factory employee Johany Segovia measures foam strips for first responder helmets in Richmond, Cailf., on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. After Gov. Newsom’s shelter-in-place order, owner Mike Handelsman repurposed the business to make parts for face masks which use foam. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)
Ten days after shutting down, Foam Order.com reopened, adjusted its work, and with a crew of about 15 employees, now prioritizes the production of PPE materials for health care providers, as well as businesses large and small. It hasn’t ignored its core business of replacement and custom foam cushions, but has told those customers that their orders may be delayed.
“We — myself and our production team — are ecstatic to be able to participate in the solution to the PPE supply crisis,” he said in an email. “It gives us a mission that is very energizing. In addition, as a small business owner, it is great to be able to provide an opportunity for our employees to continue to work, and earn money, during this time, when we would normally have to close. Finally, it gives our company the opportunity to survive what will likely be a very challenging time for many small businesses. So, overall, I am really happy that we’ve been able to make this change to our business.”
Handelsman said he was contacted by Google on Monday and said the giant Silicon Valley company put in what he would only describe as a “big order.” He was contacted March 27 by an Alta Bates Hospital physician in Berkeley — and donated 200 pieces of foam later that day for the hospital to fashion into the protective gear.
Handelsman said his company makes the foam that goes around a health-care worker’s head inside the polycarbonate face shield, and is set above the eyes to create a barrier. It doesn’t create the entire face shield — it supplies the foam.
“We are so appreciative of the 200 pieces of foam that Mike’s company, FoamOrder.com, donated to our group to make face shields for health-care workers,” said Dr. Lisa Bernard-Pearl, a physician at Alta Bates Hospital, in an email. “Face shields provide coverage for health-care workers’ face in the usual ‘droplet precautions’ setting and the lower part of the shield may also help to extend mask use by decreasing soiling during our current PPE shortages.”
Dr. Bernard-Pearl said that a group of volunteers, including her mother, Mara Duncan of Albany, have been busy assembling the foam and the polycarbonate needed to make the face shields. She said 33 have so far been delivered to the hospital’s emergency department — and another 32 more are ready for delivery. She said the remaining shields will be delivered to Alta Bates and possibly shipping some to Montefiore Medical Center in The Bronx borough in New York.
Sutter Health, parent of Alta Bates Hospital, has posted a request for protective gear. For more information, go to: https://www.sutterhealth.org/for-patients/health-alerts/ppe-donations.
As of Wednesday, Handelsman had orders for more than 60,000 PPE units and said “we have many more calls coming in that we are trying to address and fulfill.” He added that he expects to hit the 100,000 mark before long.
Handelsman has been contacted by health-care providers and companies across the nation, including from Pennsylvania and Maryland, namely John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
“It’s been overwhelming,” he said of the recent spike in calls for orders.
The company offers more than 20 different types of foam and can custom cut foam, especially for padding for PPE use, according to its website. The shapes include squares, rectangles, circles, wedges and triangles.
Handlesman said without this transition, Foam Order.com may have gone out of business. He said things are looking up, but noted that the business still faces major challenges.
“Now that we are getting a lot of interest in PPE, we are bouncing back, but they still have not made up for the lost business in our core business,” he said in an email. “We are surviving at this point, but we are still forced to closely manage cash flow, and we still have some workers who have not come back to work.”
