Staff Reports
Radiation Shield Technologies (RST), a company based in Miami-Dade, says it is looking to hire as it expands its production of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The company is looking for industrial seamstresses to help handle new and existing orders for their Demron C full-body PPE suit.
“Demron C is developed from the same technology as RST’s Demron line of anti-terrorism Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) protective garments, which for years have been used by the U.S. military and many international first responders and military teams,” according to the company.
“Specifically, Demron C is tailored to fit the needs of the health care and first responder community for durable, cost-effective, anti-viral PPE.”
The suits are reusable as well. The company also released a short video showing the suits.
“In the era of COVID-19, nothing matters more than protecting our frontline workers,” the video begins.
The video then promotes the production of the Demron C line of PPE, which the company notes is designed and manufactured in America.
Those trained in industrial sewing can find information on how to apply for a job here.
PPE production has been strained throughout the novel coronavirus. Though hospitals have largely maintained bed capacity through crisis, workers across the nation have struggled with PPE shortages and other hurdles as they have responded to the pandemic, which has led to more than 95,000 U.S. deaths.
Florida has had its own struggles securing PPE. Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz detailed those efforts, calling the private market for N95 masks a “Ponzi scheme” in late March.
“All day long we try to find these masks. We’re talking to brokers. We’re talking to distributors. We’re talking to medical sales people,” Moskowitz explained.
“We’re chasing down warehouses only to get there to find out that they’re empty. We’re being told these supplies are on planes only to see that they’re phantom planes, chasing ghosts when they don’t appear on FlightAware. We’re constantly engaging in bidding wars being asked to wire money to accounts that were set up that very same day with email addresses that were created only a couple of days ago.”
According to state records, Florida has already purchased 1,000 of the anti-viral suit.
In late April, U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch pushed for better tracking of PPE shipped in from overseas.
“If the federal government is working so hard to gather these supplies abroad and fly them to the United States, we can’t just let them out of our sight once they enter the country,” he said.
Setting up a stronger supply chain inside the U.S. could help assuage those concerns.
RST worked to develop the Demron fabric in the early 2000s. The product is breathable and may be reused and worn underneath disposable garments used by health care workers.
