NORTH RICHLAND HILLS, Texas--(Business Wire)--
Prestige Ameritech is turning a vacant, former Kimberly-Clark surgical mask
factory into a Global Pandemic Preparedness and Response Center. The 220,000
square foot facility, on 17 acres in North Richland Hills, Texas, will open by
January 31, 2010. Besides supplying America`s hospitals with their normal
supplies of masks and respirators, the center will help the US and other
countries build surgical mask and N95 respirator stockpiles for use during the
H1N1 and future pandemics. Stockpiling reduces the likelihood of mask and
respirator shortages during global emergencies. America`s hospitals are
currently experiencing a pandemic related mask and respirator shortage.
Many of Prestige Ameritech`s 200 employees once worked at the facility when it
was operated by Kimberly-Clark. In 2006, Kimberly-Clark closed the factory when
it and the rest of America`s major mask makers discontinued making surgical
masks in the US. By securing America`s mask supply with American made masks,
Prestige Ameritech hopes to create another 200 jobs in the next few years.
"Prestige Ameritech will provide US healthcare systems with a secure, high
quality American made surgical mask and respirator supply that cannot be
diverted by foreign health agencies during global emergencies," said Dan Reese,
Prestige Ameritech`s founder and CEO.
Prestige Ameritech LP is America`s largest domestic manufacturer of surgical
masks.The company will introduce medical respirators in early 2010.
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Prestige Ameritech
Mike Bowen, 817-898-0037
mbowen@prestigeameritech.com
or
Dan Reese, 817-595-1131 Ext. 11
danr@prestigeameritech.com
www.prestigeameritech.com
www.gpprc.com
Copyright Business Wire 2009
