September 1, 2022 – Just a little over a year ago, ground was broken to create two new manufacturing facilities in Broussard, Louisiana, in an effort to curb the strain on the PPE supply chain in the United States. Now, SafeSource Direct is fully operational, producing PPE materials.
SafeSource Direct is a joint venture between Trax Development and Ochsner Health, Louisiana’s leading integrated healthcare system, which makes it the only U.S. provider-owned PPE manufacturer with U.S. provider-owned quality control, according to a release. In addition to that, these facilities have created 550 new jobs for Louisiana, with a projected 2,200 new direct and indirect jobs in the pipeline for the next two years.
“We launched SafeSource Direct just 12 short months ago amid the COVID-19 pandemic as a solution to national PPE supply chain shortages, and now, we’re producing thousands of gloves, masks, and other PPE every day; and we’re continuously expanding,” said SafeSource Direct CEO Justin Hollingsworth in a press release. “We’re keeping our promise to bring jobs to the Acadiana Region while helping keep our nation’s healthcare and other essential workers safe on the job.”
That guaranteed quality control is a significant step for PPE manufacturing. In the early days of the pandemic, the mad scramble for PPE materials created an environment where counterfeit and substandard items entered the marketplace. A lot of third-party organizations were looking to make a quick profit on something that frontline healthcare workers were depending on, further generating anxiety over an already complicated situation.
Dr. Katherine Baumgarten, Medical Director of Infection Control and Prevention at Ochsner Health said, “Taking care of our patients and protecting our healthcare workers is our priority at Ochsner Health. At the onset of COVID, we realized that PPE was a precious commodity, and we went through great lengths to conserve it wherever possible while at the same time keeping our patients and employees safe.”
Continue reading in August’s issue of The Journal of Healthcare Contracting.