PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It's no secret health care workers all over the country could use all the personal protective equipment they can get their hands on at the moment.
A man who grew up in the Delaware Valley has made it his mission to make sure they're getting what they need.
"We've shipped a little over a half a million masks already into the U.S.," said Reuben Katz, who was born and raised in Elkins Park.
The Cheltenham High School graduate lives in California now where he runs his company, Sensory Data Corporation, which uses smart fabric technology to help stop pressure injuries.
Over the years he's been able to build lots of connections overseas through his work.
"With years of experience in international business and connections in Asia," explained Katz, "I decided to take the opportunity during lockdown to reposition our technology startup and acquire PPE from China for health care workers who need it the most."
State officials will tell Katz what they need, and he delivers.
"Our first order went into Florida," he told KYW Newsradio, "but we have the largest number of orders right now coming from the Pennsylvania and New York region."
Katz even got a letter Gov. Tom Wolf personally wrote to him thanking him for his work.
"Right now, we're working on delivering five million surgical masks to Pennsylvania at the request of Gov. Wolf, who has been very proactive and has done a wonderful job seeing the need to take action on their own," added Katz. "We're going to ship those five million masks straight into Harrisburg and they'll distribute them from there."
Katz's business hasn't closed during the pandemic, but he has repurposed most of his team to focus solely on getting and delivering all this PPE.
He said being able to do this during these tough times is a "great feeling."
