Amid the global Coronavirus Pandemic, the world is improvising on the go and trying to go all hands on deck to help the medical systems around the world in any way possible.
While multimillion-dollar companies are stepping out of their comfort zones to address the needs of the hour, fashion houses are doubling down on creating masks and factories which made high perfumes are doubling down on making sanitizers.
Choura Events, an event “experience company” which is known to construct tents, staging, and facilities for a number of major events such as Coachella, SXSW and more is now stepping up to help the medical system in their own way.
The company would have been preparing for a now postponed Coachella at the moment but instead is busy building heavy-duty triage tents and overflow facilities to help hospitals handle the widely increasing numbers of patients during this pandemic.
Speaking about how they were quick to adapt, standing outside the Fountain Valley Regional Medical Center, where his firm is working overtime to erect heavy-duty triage tents and overflow facilities founder Ryan Choura said “I felt devastated by the changes in the business, how to make payroll and take care of our employees. I’ve never cried more than in the last 14 days.”
He went on to tell LA times, “We pivoted so fast to being a rapid-response disaster relief team. If I didn’t know how to do Coachella, I couldn’t do this hospital. I saw patients coming in here and saw what they looked like. This is real, and we’ve got to move.”
There are also more firms similarly stepping up to address the needs of the hour. Gallagher Staging which was set to build the mainstage at Coachella has now instead built tented patient facilities, foam beds and other structures for hospitals in the Bay Area and is working on five similar sites around L.A.
Speaking about the hard-hit the Entertainment Industry has taken, Joey Gallagher, the chief executive of Gallagher Staging said,
“The entertainment industry was maybe the first to be impacted by this. Even before all the news articles, we started hearing things would be canceled. Over a week it became an absolute standstill and all of our crew had absolutely no work,”
He went on to say, “We’re an industry that moves faster than anyone. We’ll install an entire city on a blank slate,” Gallagher said. “We have everything available: Wi-Fi, radios, generators, lighting, restrooms and wash stations. We can build a small city in a day or two, and that’s a need right now.”
Another exceptional company stepping forward is Upstaging. Their usual operations involve building and transporting sets for Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Pearl Jam, Roger Waters and other spring and summer arena tours. But instead, they have been supplying and transporting face shields, signage and room dividers to nursing homes, prisons, and hospitals affected by the coronavirus.
Robin Shaw, co-founder of Upstaging said, “We started looking at what the immediate need was and we’ve been making face shields for two weeks. Our shop makes metal for sets and we can build just about anything. We deal with an industry where if we’re not fixing things ahead of the curve, the concert’s not happening. So we figured we had a lot to offer in this emergency.”
Summing it up Choura said, “It’s bringing good into a really bad situation. I’ve got 14 guys on this site building who would be sitting at home. I’ve been more fulfilled over the last few weeks than over the last decade. It’s very meaningful to feel like you’re part of saving a life.”
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