Medicom Takes Pride in Protection: Our Critical Role in Protecting People Around the World

In the months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, masks have become a normal part of our daily lives. People everywhere are wearing masks to protect themselves and others from the virus. It’s heartening to see everyone’s willingness to do their part, although it is also a strange new reality for so many.

For us at Medicom, however, masks are not new. Masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) have been a part of our daily focus for decades. It’s almost surreal to see our core competency become such a regular part of mainstream consciousness.

I started Medicom in 1988 fresh out of university. It was the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and a friend of mine was in medical school in New York City. As the World Health Organization implemented new protocols to contain the pandemic, it was he who told me about the lack of PPE in hospitals. I don’t mean there was just a shortage of PPE—there was a shocking lack of infection control products available overall.

It’s hard for us to understand or envision it today, but at that time there was little focus on infection control compared to what we see today. Equipment would be reused repeatedly, and was often very poorly maintained. The clinical settings were nothing close to what was required to keep people truly safe.

The AIDS crisis changed all that. There was suddenly a push for disposable, single-use sterile equipment that would protect both patients and healthcare workers from pathogens. There was a worldwide need for gloves, masks and sterilization equipment. In Canada, there was only one company importing such equipment at the time, and this spurred me to start Medicom.

We’ve spent the last 32 years immersed in the world of medical-grade masks and other infection control solutions. Our journey began as an importer, then evolved as we quickly moved into manufacturing and supplying healthcare authorities around the world, as we learned through the support of crisis after crisis such as the avian flu, SARS, H1N1, and Ebola.

By 2019, Medicom had become a world leading manufacturer of face masks, with over 1,000 employees, sales in over 95 countries and a network of partners around the world. It’s that extensive network and deep expertise that has allowed us to play such a critical role protecting people through the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Rapid Response to COVID-19

When COVID-19 broke out, we realized immediately that this was not going to be business as usual. There was a dramatic need for surgical face masks and other PPE such as medical gowns as the global supply chain was massively disrupted. Hospitals around the world were reporting critical shortages.

Opportunists popped up everywhere. Suddenly the market was saturated with thousands of new entrants, all trying to figure out how to produce a reliable supply of high-quality masks.

It became evident fairly quickly to many that high quality PPE is not that simple to make. It takes specialized machinery, engineering and research expertise and regulatory know-how to produce a reliable supply of medical-grade masks—it’s not something you can learn overnight. Few companies were able to tool up quickly enough or secure the required regulatory approvals and quality raw materials to produce reliable, certified, medical-grade masks in the quantities and speeds that the world needed.

And yet the problem had to be solved virtually overnight, as the problem of availability became the primary concern for health care systems around the world.

Luckily at Medicom, we had the benefit of our expertise, our deep customer and supplier relationships, a robust supply chain and manufacturing capabilities around the world. In three decades we’ve never wavered in our commitment to the highest quality and regulatory standards.

Facing this dramatic worldwide need, our employees were deeply inspired by our company purpose and acted swiftly to expand production. We opened four new factories in just four months, in Canada, the United Kingdom, Singapore and France. By 2021, we will be one of the largest global manufacturers, having ramped up our capacity to produce 2.5 billion masks annually worldwide.

Partnering with Governments to Ensure a Robust Supply

In addition to vastly increasing our production in response to the pandemic, one of the biggest impacts that Medicom was able to make was to offer our support and expertise to governments around the world.

One of our first major announcements came in France. In 2011, we had acquired a French production facility as part of a strategic initiative to diversify manufacturing footprint around the world, given the differences in local registration requirements, quality standards and distribution channels.

As COVID spread through Europe, the French government implemented restrictions on the export of masks and PPE. Our facility quickly worked directly with the government to maximize output, and our General Manager joined a strategic government task force to help that country’s pandemic team improve its responsiveness across the country’s healthcare network.

This relationship was the catalyst for many more. We’ve since developed similar partnerships with governments in Canada, Singapore, the United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong and the United States, with several others in development. Working with governments allows us to have a direct impact on the health of patients and healthcare workers and play a key role in responding to local needs. 

Continued Efforts to Protect the Population

Our business continues to grow as we expand our capabilities to help protect the world’s population from the ever-present virus. We are now partnering with raw material suppliers around the world in ways we have never done before. We are increasing our investments in facilities and equipment tenfold. We are doing everything we can to ensure that the world’s supply of infection control equipment remains robust.

This pandemic has been, and continues to be, a terrible tragedy. The stresses that our worldwide healthcare systems have had to bear have been extremely difficult. Until we find a long-term solution, I’m very grateful that Medicom is in a position to provide support during a worldwide crisis in such an impactful way. And while we know that there will be life after COVID, we will be well positioned to help again in the future, as we have done with every health crisis over the last three decades. Because this is our mission and our collective purpose.

Stay safe. I wish you all continued good health.