BALTIMORE — Sagamore Spirit Distillery is making hand sanitizer at its facility for healthcare workers at Johns Hopkins Hospital who are in need of medical supplies and protective gear due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Drew Thorn, Vice President of Finance and Operations for Sagamore Spirit, says the hospital called them because they were having difficulty producing enough hand sanitizer for the hospital.
“They were running into troubles being able to produce at the volumes that were required to support all of their hospital network,” Thorn said.
The company decided to help the best way it could by using its own alcohol to produce its own batch of hand sanitizer to make sure the people on the frontlines are protected from the virus.
“It’s been a whirlwind of 10 days,” he said. “We had to convert 100 percent of our operations.”
Sagamore Spirit worked with Johns Hopkins closely throughout the process to ensure the hand sanitizer met federal guidelines.
He says the company has already made three deliveries to the hospital, sending a total of 500 gallons of hand sanitizer.
Thorn says their goal is to make 54,000L of hand sanitizer for the hospital.
“Hopkins need is pretty substantial,” Thorn said. “We know that the other medical networks needs are substantial. We are going as hard as we can to make as much as possible.”
He says it’s the least Sagamore Spirit can to do show their appreciation for the healthcare workers who are risking their lives to protect all of us.
“We are privileged, energized by the opportunity to help support that effort in a way we are well suited to and we are beyond thankful for all of the work the first line medical providers are doing as a service to our country and a world as a whole,” he said.
The whiskey distillery is also looking to possibly make more hand sanitizer to benefit other hospitals and health care organizations.
