Coronavirus: Addison Firm Now Making Face Masks

ADDISON, IL — An Addison company that specializes in making decorative mirrors and furniture has shifted gears and started manufacturing the protective masks thatmedical personnel so desperately need.

“I woke up in the middle of the night last week to hear on the news that there was a shortage of surgical masks in the country and I quickly was figuring out how we could help,” Brian Berk, president of Addison's Howard Elliott Collection, said in a statement. “I quickly realized that many of the materials used in a protective mask are the same materials we use in our production of some of our home furnishing products. After a few prototypes were made in our sewing operation, we have been able to begin producing the masks much more efficiently.”

The company has the capacity to produce thousands of masks and has been producing them for the last week, according to a news release. Currently, the company is offering them to any medical center that will accept them, despite not being FDA approved, the release said.

Berk said he was working with governmental officials at the local, state and federal levels, as well as the Illinois Manufacturers Association, to try to source and procure as many necessary materials to provide the personal protective equipment to health care workers.

“The most challenging part of this right now is working through the ‘red tape,'" Berk said in the release. "While I realize that there needs to be rules and regulations, these masks are certainly better than what I am learning the medical community is being forced to use in many instances. I have heard several stories that they are re-using masks for days of cutting up hospital gowns and other outer-wear.”

Over the weekend, Berk, along with his wife, Davida, daughters, Marley and Amanda, and son, Tyler, all pitched in to deliver the donated protective masks to Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, St. Catherine’s, St. Mary’s, the Will County Senior Center, Munster Community Center in Indiana, the University of Chicago Oncology Department, and a local favorite sushi restaurant, the news release said.

Howard Elliott Collection opened its doors in 2001.

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