04.23.20
AutomotiveTouchup, a New Orleans based manufacturer of automobile paints and supplies, said it repurposed part of its production line to produce more than 900 units of hand sanitizer that will be donated for hospital use at LCMC Health New Orleans.
"It was frustrating to go to the store and learn it was sold out of hand sanitizer," said Jeremy Thurnau, president and CEO of Microfinish LLC, the producers of AutomotiveTouchup brand automobile paints and supplies. "I wanted my employees and others to have access to hand sanitizer, so we decided to do something about it."
The hand sanitizer was produced by AutomotiveTouchup GM Paul Fernandez and employee Wilbert Bee from a recipe published by the World Health Organization.
Thurnau said that several hundred bottles appropriately sized for hand sanitizer were already on-site at AutomotiveTouchups' facility, and the company had ready access to the isopropyl alcohol and the skin conditioner glycerol called for in the WHO recipe.
Through a mutual acquaintance of Thurnau and a senior administrator at LCMC Health New Orleans, over 50 gallons of hand sanitizer produced by AutomotiveTouchup and delivered by employee Ronnie Fajardo quickly made its way to medical staff in need.
"I was actually shocked by and appreciated the fact that they were thinking of donating it," said Scott Landry, senior VP of facilities, LCMC Health Systems, New Orleans, who routed the majority of the hand sanitizer to Children's Hospital.
"Our employees are working really hard, and the little things you can do for them, like having a little personal dispenser that they can carry on their person, are really appreciated," Landry said.
