Local Rotary Club Provides Face Shields to Goodyear and Avondale Fire Departments

President-elect Joan Smith and Chief Paul Luizzi

President-elect Joan Smith and Chief Paul Luizzi

The Rotary Club of Goodyear PebbleCreek responded in a very meaningful way to the COVID-19 crisis. Evaluating the need and availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for local first responders, the club invested in supplies to make 500 protective face shields for the Goodyear and Avondale Fire Departments. “Our first responders are out in the field every day responding to calls and putting themselves at risk to exposure of the virus. This is our way of helping and saying thank you,” said Charlie Miller, Rotary president.

Face shields have several important advantages over face masks. They provide greater facial surface area coverage than masks by protecting all of the areas where the virus enters the body. Unlike cloth or fiber masks, the virus is unable to penetrate the plastic shield.

“We were running critically low on face shields. We just couldn’t get them from our vendors anymore. This generous gift has been a godsend. We often run calls with Avondale and now we all have the equipment necessary to do our job,” said Chief Luizzi, Goodyear Fire Department.

The Goodyear PebbleCreek Rotary always is looking for ways to improve the lives of children and families in the Southwest Valley. As Rotarians, our job is to take care of the needs of our communities and find ways to help. Community members and local businesses interested in learning more about Rotary or want to become involved are always welcome. Meetings are held weekly at 7 a.m. in PebbleCreek’s Tuscany Falls clubhouse. Currently, we are meeting via videoconference to observe the Centers for Disease Control guidelines for social distancing.

For more information, contact president-elect Joan Smith at 503-348-9468 or [email protected].