Local company makes 2,000 face shields to donate to hospitals

ORLANDO, Fla. - Companies across the country are stepping up to create products in need. In Orlando, a local company is now producing face shields for healthcare workers on the frontlines.

The idea came about while delivering meals to hospitals, when it came to light that there is a critical need for face shields. So two local businessmen got to work finding plastic to make their own.

Inside the Impact Lighting warehouse, the production normally consists of making star ceilings and other entertainment products.

But right now all of that is being put on hold.

“We literally stopped everything,” owner Paul Koren said.They’re repurposing their machines for a new product – face shields.“We thought the time to help is now and that’s what we’re gonna do,” Koren said.

His longtime friend, Brett Kingstone of Max King Realty, contacted him to partner up on the mission.

“We bought every last pallet of translucent flexible polycarbonate plastic for the shields,” Kingstone said. “He had them on his machines a few hours later and we’re in the business of making face shields within 24 hours.”

They also recruited Limbitless Solutions at UCD to make the visors that attach to the plastic shields.

“It’s the main protective gear that the first responders and also the nurses and surgeons use when they’re dealing with patients from surgery to coronavirus,” Kingstone said. “When there’s splatter on them they gotta remove them and replace them.”

As the pandemic peaks, they’re printing and producing what so many of our healthcare heroes need right now.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen next week,” Koren said. “We’re just taking it day by day.”

In just 20 hours, their machines produced 2,000 face shields. Those donations are being delivered on Friday to hospitals. The businessmen said if they can get their hands on more plastic, they will continue to make the masks as long as there is a need.