A construction company has donated dozens of face shields to a suburban hospital after boxes of personal protective gear were stolen from a surgeon's porch.
An unidentified person was caught stealing two boxes — one consisting of face shields and another containing masks — on April 1 from the porch of a surgeon who lives in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood.
Dr. Jane Lee, who works at Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, hoped to bring the items to work amid a shortage of PPE nationwide during the coronavirus epidemic.
Dr. Svetlana Zats, one of Dr. Lee's colleagues at the Oak Lawn hospital, saw her story on NBC 5 and thought of a way she could help.
"It hit so close to home," she said. "I live in [the] city too. Always worried about packages getting stolen. Out of all the packages stolen, the package with face shields for COVID employees."
Dr. Zats knew that Legends Exterior and Construction, a West Chicago-based company, had a 3D printer and was able to print face shields, so she reached out.
Legends staff stepped up right away and printed a total of 36 face shields, which Dr. Lee said is enough to cover the whole COVID-19 intensive care unit at the hospital.
"Even though these are not true medical [masks], they can be put over the medical masks," Dr. Zats said. "I encourage people to reach inside their artsy side and start doing things."
Anyone who wishes to donate to the hospital is encouraged to visit Advocate Health System's website.
