APRIL 23 • 2020 | 35
JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
I
t was around 2:30 p.m. on
Sunday, April 12, when the
wheels of an El Al jet touched
down at Detroit Metropolitan
Airport. The plane, void of passen-
gers, flew to Detroit from China on
what could be considered a human-
itarian aid mission.
Inside the Israeli jet were 3.5
million surgical and KN95 protec-
tive masks, face shields and pulse
oximeters about to be distributed
to Michigan hospitals, senior liv-
ing facilities, first responders and
other professionals in desperate
need of gear to keep safe and avoid
contracting the potentially deadly
COVID-19 virus.
Alon Kaufman texted his wife,
Shari, a photo of the plane as it
was about to land. “Welcome to
Detroit, El Al,
” he wrote in the text.
“Mission accomplished!! History in
the making!!”
Just a few weeks earlier, when
the pandemic began to make its
unwelcome presence in Michigan,
the Kaufmans — owners of
HoMedics, a manufacturer of
consumer wellness products based
in Commerce Township — expe-
rienced what Shari described as an
“aha moment.
”
The couple had as many as
20,000 protective face masks, which
they immediately donated to Henry
Ford Hospital, Karmanos Cancer
Institute and the Department of
Homeland Security.
Seeing the growing need for such
items, they reconfigured produc-
tion lines at the factories they work
with in China to mass-produce
FDA-approved protective face
masks and other needed medical
supplies, including pulse oximeters
and thermometers.
“
At this time, some of our prod-
uct lines are not a necessity for the
average person who is struggling
through this crisis,
” Shari Ferber
Kaufman said. “We recognized this
early and pivoted our focus to man-
ufacturing masks using our robust
supply chain in China as well as our
internal compliance and regulatory
department. This has allowed us to
move very quickly to manufacture
quality FDA-approved masks and
other PPE.
”
The team at HoMedics, includ-
ing sons Daniel and Joshua, spent
several days and sleepless nights
coordinating how to convert prod-
uct lines to make masks and other
medically certified personal protec-
tive equipment. Their son Jonathan,
an L.A.-based film producer, creat-
ed informational videos about the
endeavor.
Working with manufacturing
facilities familiar to the company
and having a presence in China
helped HoMedics screen facilities
to ensure the production of FDA-
approved products.
“It’
s like the Wild West in China
right now,
” said Daniel Kaufman,
senior vice president of strategy
for HoMedics. “Before COVID,
around 100 or so factories were
making PPE. Now there are around
2,500 claiming to make PPE, many
Jews in the D
Israeli Airline
Brings Precious
COVID Cargo
HoMedics overhauled its production
process in China to produce protective
gear for those on the front lines.
Thanks to El Al, they arrived in Detroit.
COURTESY OF HOMEDICS
HoMedics cargo
reached Detroit
with the aid of
an El Al plane.
continued on page 36