Vinton County Commissioners William Wellman, Mark Fout, and Tim Eberts, with Vinton Prosecutor Jim Payne and EMA Director William Faught oversee the delivery of PPE shipments to be distributed to their first responders, schools, and others.

PPE Shipping Out to all OVRDC Counties

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 29, 2020

Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission Uses Grant Money to Purchase Personal Protective Equipment Needed by Counties in Southern Ohio

Waverly, Ohio – In the days leading up to Christmas, the Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC) arranged for the delivery of much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers to county officials courtesy of a grant funded through the Governor’s Office of Appalachia. As the COVID pandemic continues unabated, receiving provisions of protective equipment was at the top of everyone’s Wish List this year.

Local officials in twelve Southern Ohio counties in the OVRDC service area, including Vinton, Jackson, Highland, Gallia, Lawrence, Scioto, Pike, Ross, Adams, Brown, Fayette, and Clermont, took delivery of shipments Christmas week and will be distributing the supplies out through emergency management services and county health districts.

For this first round of PPE deliveries, the Governor’s Office of Appalachia grant allowed OVRDC to purchase over $150,000 worth of supplies, according to the needs of each county as they submitted in their individual wish lists. The totals included,

• 17,300 3-Ply Surgical Masks, bundled in lots of 100.
• 10,600 N-95 Masks, bundled in lots of 100.
• 8,630 Pediatric Cloth Masks, Size 3-6 years, bundled in lots of 100.
• 11,650 Pediatric Cloth Masks, Size 7-12 years, bundled in lots of 100.
• 100 Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) Black Ratchet Adjustment Face Shield and Head Gear Set.
• 1,700 Goggles, bundled in lots of 100.
• 1,850 Boxes of Nitrile Gloves, sizes S-XL in equal quantities.
• 50 Tyvek Overalls w/Hood, sizes M-XXL in equal quantities.
• 130 Non-Touch Thermometers
• 5,000 Forehead Thermometer Strips
• 310 (Gallon Case of 4) Hand Sanitizer
• 500 Cases of Disinfecting Wipes
• 360 Cases of Disinfecting Spray
• 12 Hand Sanitizing Stands

The only back-ordered items on the list were the nitrile gloves, due to high demand. All other items on the list were shipped out to be distributed by each county in the coming days.

The PPE project came about when OVRDC gained support from the Governor’s Office of Appalachia Director John Carey to apply development project grant funding in response to the COVID crisis. OVRDC Executive Director John Hemmings and Development Coordinator Jessica Keeton came up with the idea to supply PPEs and worked on putting the project together.

“During the initial shutdown back in the spring, we had a lot of conversations at OVRDC about what to do to help our local governments respond to the crisis. County services were affected, and businesses were shut down. It seemed the best way to help get the economy moving again would be to do our part to fight the COVID virus and help alleviate shortages of personal protective equipment. It made sense to do what we could to fill the gap. We had the counties tell us what they needed, so we could provide what would be meaningful for them,” said Jessica Keeton, OVRDC Development Coordinator.

For more information on current COVID-19 protocols and health orders visit the Ohio Department of Health web portal.

For more information, please contact Jessica Keeton at jkeeton@ovrdc.org, or Public Information Coordinator Gina Collinsworth at 740-821-1171 or gcollinsworth@ovrdc.org.

About OVRDC

Ohio Valley Regional Development Commission (OVRDC) is a regional planning commission and Local Development District (LDD) dedicated to the development of Southern Ohio, providing multi-jurisdictional planning and economic development, administrative, professional and technical assistance to local governments, nonprofits, communities, and citizens in a twelve county region. More information available here.

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