Bryn Mawr Doctor Teams Up With Former Classmate To Find Medical Equipment For Pennsylvania Health Care Workers
CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP, Pa. (CBS) - Hospitals and medical centers are still having difficulty finding enough personal protective equipment, but a Montgomery County doctor and his former Cheltenham High School classmate are on a mission to help get medical equipment for health care workers across Pennsylvania.
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"I always wanted to be in medicine, to touch as many lives as I could in a positive way," Dr. Jonathan Gusdorff, of Bryn Mawr, said.
Gusdorff is a seasoned doctor, but something they don't teach in medical school is international trade. So he's learning all about customs and negotiations first-hand as he works to find N-95 masks and medical gowns for health care workers.
"I never had the opportunity to reach out to millions of people in a short amount of time," Gusdorff said. "This is exactly what we're doing."
Gusdorff is a Cheltenham High School graduate and teamed up with an old classmate, who now runs a smart-fabric company called Sensory Data Corporation. The company already has a relationship with China.
"We knew there would be some challenges when dealing with China," Gusdorff's former classmate, Reuben Katz, said.
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Katz says, in one instance, a shipment of a quarter-million masks held in a Chinese warehouse was so packed, workers could not get it out on time and it missed its scheduled flight to the U.S. Other problems arose, too.
"It really turned into the wild west when it came to purchasing and acquiring masks and surgical gowns. We had counterfeit products on at least more than a half-dozen occasions now," Katz said.
But Katz shared photos of these 2 million masks, saying they're on a Tuesday flight bound for Harrisburg where state officials would later distribute them.
"I've done things on large scales before. This is amazing, this is an amazing opportunity," Katz said.
The two are working to get more masks for the commonwealth and other states as well.
