Premier uses own truck to pick up donated masks amid the COVID-19 crisis

Published Mar 30, 2020 • 1 minute read

When Dental Brands, a markham-based dental supply company, offered to donate surgical masks and hand sanitizer to help frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario Premier Doug Ford jumped in his truck and picked up the much-needed supplies himself on Sunday, March 29, 2020. (supplied photo)

Superheroes not only wear masks, they donate them too.

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When Dental Brands offered to donate over 100,000 surgical masks, Ontario Premier Doug Ford showed up in person with his own truck to collect the supplies.

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CEO Moti Betesh and Mike Lauterpacht, vice-president of operations for the Markham-based dental supply company, received a call from the Premier around 2 p.m. Sunday to tell them he was on the way to their office.

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Dental Brands also donated 4,600 bottles of hand sanitizer.

“If, as a community, we don’t decide to try and help each other, we’re going to be battling this virus for a very long time,” Lauterpacht said. “We’re lucky enough to have a solid supply chain and we were happy to be able to help out.”

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Ford told a media conference Monday that Ontario is doing everything it can to secure medical supplies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re working every contact we have to acquire medical supplies from every source possible around the world, across Canada and here at home in Ontario,” Ford said.

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The Premier described how Dental Brands reached out to help, offering to get masks to them on Monday or Tuesday of this week.

“I said if you’re free today, I’d like to come by and pick these up today to get them in the system,” Ford said. “You talk about the spirit of Ontario. They donated 100,000 face masks, Level 2 masks — the police took 10,000, I took 90,000 and brought them over to the warehouse.

“These are companies that are stepping up day in and day out and they’re just incredible people and I want to thank them,” he said.

aartuso@postmedia.com

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