Mahogany extends service roots to AtlantiCare during COVID-19

A Mays Landing, New Jersey company can take a bow for helping AtlantiCare keep ahead of its personal protective equipment needs.

Mahogany Company is a fourth-generation family-owned business in the composite kit industry. The company takes raw materials and turns them into components for customers in the marine, aerospace, wind energy, and transportation market sectors.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it decided to take its manufacturing capabilities to a new level by making and donating 2,000 face shields to AtlantiCare.

Using a face shield an AtlantiCare staff member had made as a template, Mahogany’s team ordered special raw materials and programmed its manufacturing equipment to make the shields.

It delivered 1,000 face shields May 11 and will drop off another 1,000 to AtlantiCare this week.

“We wanted to help,” said CEO George M. Aaron, whose grandfather, Maurice Aaron, founded the company. “My son, George, has friends who work as nurses at AtlantiCare. He started working on the project after he learned about their need for face shields. We knew we had the capabilities to produce them.” Aaron shared the idea with his sister and business partner, Peggy Hamilton.

“She immediately responded with enthusiasm, ‘Oh yes! We can do this to help!’” he said.

George P. Aaron described how the project got started. “I stopped by the hospital on my way home from work one day to pick up a sample,” he said. He then met with a member of AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center’s (ARMC) Incident Command Team at the hospital’s Atlantic City Campus.

“I was eager to help. At Mahogany, we have scanning equipment we used to scan the face shield in order to create a cut field.”

“These shields are benefiting our staff, providers, and patients tremendously,” said John Hunt, corporate director, Safety and Emergency Management, and leader, COVID-19 Incident Command, AtlantiCare.

“The shields’ exceptional quality would lead you to believe creating personal protective equipment is the company’s core business.”

“We are so impressed by the ingenuity, enthusiasm, and generosity Mahogany and other businesses and individuals have demonstrated throughout the pandemic,” said Barbara Young, assistant vice president, Supply Chain, Procurement Services, AtlantiCare. “We’re grateful for every donation that has helped us prevent spread of COVID-19.”

The Aaron and Hamilton families are longtime Mays Landing residents.

“Giving back is part of Mahogany’s ethos,” said George M. Aaron. “We’ve always believed in giving back and supporting our community. We have sponsored local events and teams for many years, but never have done anything like this before.

"The entire Mahogany team was proud and excited to help our community and first-responders during this most challenging time. An opportunity like this doesn’t come along often where we have the time, capability, and people to do something different that makes a big impact. We are proud to do our part in helping keep our community responders safe while they work to keep us safe.”

For more information about AtlantiCare, call the AtlantiCare Access Center at 1-888-569-1000; visit www.atlanticare.org; or find AtlantiCare on Facebook.

-30-

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

AtlantiCare is an integrated healthcare system based in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey, whose more than 6,000 staff, providers and volunteers serve the community in more than 100 locations in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May and Ocean counties of southern New Jersey. Its vision of building healthy communities together drives its mission of making a difference in health and healing, one person at a time, through caring and trusting relationships. A Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award winner, AtlantiCare was also included in Modern Healthcare’s Best Places to Work. AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center was the 105th hospital in the nation to attain the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Magnet™ designation in 2004 and earned redesignation in 2008, 2013, in 2018. Learn more at atlanticare.org or 1-888-569-1000.