Vaughan IKEA employees uncover large stash of N95 masks in storage area

Send 66,000 units to North York General Hospital to aid front-line workers

Yorkregion.com
March 30, 2020
John Cudmore

With the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe stocking medical supplies and equipment are fast becoming a critical concern.

Not surprisingly, front-line health officials are grateful for every piece of gear they can get their hands on.

So, it was a welcome treasure when boxes of N95 masks uncovered Thursday at an IKEA store in Vaughan landed soon afterwards at the doorstep of North York General Hospital.

IKEA employees were instructed Thursday to scour their facility to find anything useful to help with the nation-wide shortage of personal protective equipment.

Shortly afterwards, employees at the Vaughan location discovered 66,000 masks safely packaged in their storage area.

“Upon learning that there was a need for PPE in Canada, we directed all of our store locations to look into their supply,” said Kristin Newbigging, public relations leader for IKEA Canada. “IKEA is committed to supporting our local community and we want to do whatever we can to support our frontline health workers during this challenging time.

“While we don’t sell PPE, as a large retailer, we do have some stock for precautionary and safety reasons.”

Vaughan is not the only IKEA store to donate equipment but its contribution is so far the largest contribution in Canada.

Newbigging recalled a similar story from Sweden about a month ago regarding a large find of masks.

“We thought wouldn’t it be great if that happened here in Canada,” she said. “We were thrilled to locate these high quantities of N95 masks in Vaughan.”

The hospital is a short drive from both the Vaughan and North York IKEA store locations.

Officials from North York General Hospital were not available March 29 for comment.