A new South Surrey company has started production of 95PFE (N95-equivalent) medical masks.
Eternity Medical Equipment opened its 13,000 square-foot production centre located at 19099 25 Ave. Tuesday morning with an invitation-only press conference featuring business representatives and Surrey Coun. Allison Patton.
The opening of the facility garnered attention from B.C. Premier John Horgan.
“As Surrey’s first medical mask facility, Eternity Medical Equipment will help protect Canadians and front-line workers by producing 95PFE/N95 respirators,” Horgan’s written statement reads.
“With a capacity to make up to 2.5 million medical masks per month, this state-of-the-art facility will play an important role in our fight against COVID-19.”
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The company is to start production with 17 employees and add an additional 38 jobs as production ramps up, according to the company.
“Back in early April, we watched the news and saw how hard it was for our frontline workers to get N95 and surgical masks from overseas, and also saw the government’s call-out to Canadian companies to help,” company co-founder Jeff Wang said in a release.
“I really wanted to spearhead an initiative to get them made on Canadian soil, right here in British Columbia. From April on, we devised a plan and strategy, signed the lease in Surrey this summer, sourced the equipment and raw materials, and developed a checklist to ensure our products will meet both the Health Canada and strict (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) certification process, which can take up to a year to finalize. We already have a manufacturer code assigned.”
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Eternity has sent a prototype of its mask, called the ECAN95, to a number of laboratories in Canada and U.S. for testing.
The company is waiting for certification from Health Canada.
“Samples received >99% and 98% filtration efficiency respectively, both of which are higher than the current National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health certification standard of >95%,” the release states.
The ECAN95 masks feature a molded-cone design with two elastic headbands and a foam strip over the nose.
The company is legally authorized to sell products under Health Canada’s Interim Order with a Medical Equipment Licence Class I. People interested in ordering Eternity’s mask can email info@eternitymsm.com or 1-800-480-7155.
“Having access to Canadian-made, high-quality PPE is one of our greatest tools in our nation’s fight against Covid-19,” said Surrey Mayor Doug McCallum in a news release.
“I commend Eternity Medical Equipment’s quick action to pivot and step up to produce medical masks here in Surrey that will protect our front-line workers and most vulnerable across Canada. Surrey is home to one of the largest manufacturing bases in the province and these medical masks are a welcome addition to our Surrey Makes PPE program.”
Production for Eternity Surgical Masks is expected to begin in December.
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