First Coast Home Pros makes and donates face shields to UF

Posted on May 1, 2020 By Editor Brooklyn, Downtown, Springfield, Neighborhood News, Riverside, Avondale, Ortega, Murray Hill, San Jose, San Marco, St. Nicholas

Staff from First Coast Home Pros and Jax Furniture Refinishing & Upholstering busy building face shields and cloth masks in their Arlington headquarters.

First Coast Home Pros, a full-service specialized home services company, has put its employees to work making hundreds of cotton masks for their customers, employees and others in need. It’s a way the company can support its community and also put its employees to work during a time the call for its services is lowered by closures due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

First Cost Home Pros employees made and donated more than 1,000 washable fabric masks before also adding face shields in April, to address shortages among local health care workers. In April, they delivered 660 face shields to UF Health Jacksonville, and they will continue to make the shields during the crisis. They have also posted YouTube videos showing how others can make cotton masks and face shields at home. The response has been so strong that the company is waiting on supplies to continue providing both.

“Right now, we are waiting for some additional materials to arrive so we can continue making them,” explained President Josh Kennedy, company founder. He said that face shields offer a higher level of protection for health workers because they are made of plastic and extend from forehead to chin.

“We started making cotton masks for our customers, employees and others in need earlier in the crisis and shifted to face shields as soon as we heard health care workers were low on supply.” First Coast Home Pros started in 2008 as a window cleaning company. Since then, it has added a full suite of services including housekeeping, carpet cleaning, pressure washing, handyman services, painting and other home care services.

“This generous donation is another example of how our community is coming together in this time of uncertainty,” said Dr. Leon L. Haley Jr., CEO of UF Health Jacksonville and dean of the UF College of Medicine – Jacksonville. “Finding as many resources as possible in this fight against COVID-19 is challenging, so we are incredibly grateful to Josh Kennedy and his team.”