BOZEMAN — What started as repurposing fishing products in Gallatin County to help healthcare workers on the front lines is evolving once more.
This time their focus is helping rural, older communities.
The Montana Hospital Association (MHA) and Simms Fishing Products came together on Wednesday after Simms began producing 400 reusable “isolation gowns” for medical workers.
The gowns use a technical two-layer and three-layer waterproof fabric, meeting both the needs required by hospital officials and aimed directly at helping healthcare officials get to cases of COVID-19 that may be impacting smaller counties like Toole County.
The MHA says the gowns will be shipped to more than 40 hard-to-reach hospitals across the state.
“These isolation gowns will be used in critical access hospitals all across the state,” MHA president and CEO Rich Rasmussen said. “They will be used to supplement the protective equipment they need and as we are still working through a crunch, this is an example of how Montana has responded.”
The fabric was also donated by Mervin Manufacturing and shipments could happen immediately with a grant from the Montana Bioscience Cluster 4th “F” Fund.