PORT RICHEY, Fla. — As hospice workers everywhere continue to need medical supplies to help them do their jobs safely during the coronavirus pandemic, a distillery in Pasco County is doing what it can to help.
- The Point Distillery has made 15,000 gallons of hand sanitizer over past 2 weeks
- Chapters Health System provided protective gloves to distillery in return
- More Pasco County stories
The Point Distillery donated nearly 300 gallons of sanitizer to Chapters Health System, which runs hospices across Florida.
In return, Chapters Health System donated disposable gloves, which are in short supply currently, to Point.
“Hospice is sometimes forgotten,” said Jen Chianella with Chapters Health System. “The sanitizer is truly going to help our physicians and nurses going out into the community. That doesn’t stop because of COVID-19.”
Seeking a solution to their shortage of hand sanitizer, Chianella reached out to The Point Distillery in Port Richey for help.
“We got a call from the hospice. They said they were desperate,” said Point co-owner Frank Dibling. “We were able to help them out.”
Dibling says the distillery recently switched from making liquor to hand sanitizer. In fact, they’ve already made more than 15,000 gallons of it in two weeks.
They’ve been donating it to different organizations or selling it at cost to help people out.
To make that much, they need something critical as well: Protective gloves.
“We couldn’t get any. The gloves are being reserved for medical professionals, as they should,” Dibling said.
So Chapters returned the favor, donating boxes of extra disposable gloves they had.
“We came to their rescue as they came to ours, and we passed those gloves on to them,” Chianella said.
“That was a wonderful thing,” Dibling said. “It shows that we do help each other when the chips are down.”
The Point Distillery plans to make sanitizer as long as it’s needed.
If you’re able to help with any hospice donations, Chapters is willing to help coordinate drop-offs or pickups. If you can help, email foundation@chaptershealth.org or call 813-871-8444.