Montgomery County window shutter company makes medical shields for hospitals

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. - A window shutter company in Montgomery County is changing what they make. Instead of wood shutters for historic homes, they will be assembling plexiglass face shields for doctors on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Timerlane Inc. founder Rick Skidmore says the company was forced to close by Gov. Wolf’s order to shut down nonessential businesses. He was worried about his employees. 

“The first thing that went through my head was how are these people going to pay their bills?” asked Skidmore. “How are they going to put food on the table and take care of their families?” 

They soon realized people don’t need window treatments right now, but they do need protection.  “Unanimously, we said, absolutely, we can do this," Skidmore said.

The State of Pennsylvania has now cleared them as an essential business to make shields for doctors. 

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He says ICU beds across the country will be needing aerosol boxes.

“This box actually goes over the head of the patient and it allows the physician or whoever is working to access it this way and this shield protects the clinician from any type of infectious spray," Skidmore explained.

The Department of Defense has already placed a million piece order. 

“Time is not our friend in this. The front line medical community needs them now they don’t need them a month from now," he said.

The craftsmen say they are up for the challenge. 

“At such a strange and odd time when everyone is so scared, it is kind of creating a little shimmer of hope and we also see it as a possible life preserver to help us sustain through these tough times," Skidmore added.

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