Houston, TX, April 28, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Among the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic are those individuals and groups who have, unselfishly, stepped up to help their communities and country at a time when such assistance is sorely needed.

At Chief Outsiders – a collective of fractional Chief Marketing Officers who work on strategic solutions with small- and mid-market businesses – we are proud to share that several of our clients are using their innovations and ingenuity to help find solutions to the pandemic’s most vexing problems.

From the portable power company that has shifted from powering events to field hospitals and testing centers, to the 3D printer now manufacturing face shields for medical use — our clients are pivoting their businesses to contribute in this national time of emergency. Not because they have been compelled to do so, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Among the examples of our mid-market and small-business clients who have risen to today’s challenges:

WILL Interactive

WILL Interactive has been providing movie-quality interactive training that addresses society’s most pressing issues for many years. As part of this suite of content, WILL previously had created an infection prevention training program called “Partnering to Heal” in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program employs a proprietary training methodology shown to positively influence behavior. Users make a series of decisions that change the storyline and result in different outcomes.

As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic deepened in the U.S., WILL CEO Sharon Sloane realized the power of this program in providing safety inside America’s overcrowded hospitals. “Maintaining the wellness of patients, caregivers, and the community at large is an ongoing effort,” said Sloane, who is providing the program free of charge to any hospital wanting to access it. “Although this interactive experience is particularly relevant in light of recent events, the principles and practices it emphasizes are always critical.”

Faith Technologies

Faith Technologies, a manufacturing business focused on supporting the construction industry and creating sustainable, renewable energy solutions, is one of many manufacturers across the country now switching gears in response to COVID-19. In conjunction with subsidiary Excellerate Manufacturing, the company is in the process of building rapidly deployable mobile medical units to give emergency and medical care personnel a safe and clean environment for patient intake, triage and care.

"We started to get a few calls from some of our partners whether it be customer or vendor partners last week knowing what we've kind of manufactured in the past with some of the container solutions and just asked, 'What could you guys do? Do you think there's anything you guys could do to support that?'" said Tom Clark, the company’s chief experience officer.

“It’s in our company DNA to adapt and pivot to the needs of the market,” Clark continued. “We have been producing self-contained power units like microgrids, battery storage, and the like.  We had the containers and saw a need in our communities.”

Clark expects to turn out “hundreds” of the mobile medical units in the next several weeks, to deal with the peak of the crisis.

iWave

Developer of the industry’s top-rated nonprofit fundraising intelligence platform, iWave  works with healthcare, education and nonprofit organizations to help them identify, qualify and retain donors to raise more major gifts

In response to the pressures brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, iWave has doubled the number of concurrent users that its clients have in the system at no charge. This will allow clients to deploy more personnel in a bid to both expand their donor base and be more strategic in their fundraising outreach, during this challenging time.

“We are resolute in our mission to provide our clients with the tools and functionality to continue to fundraise with confidence and achieve their world-changing missions, especially in the midst of such great anxiety,” said iWave President and CEO Ross Beattie. “iWave is built to ensure that we can fulfill this mission even in challenging times such as this. We are immersed in the nonprofit space and are inspired daily by the amazing work being done by our clients. We come to work every day looking forward to helping our clients accomplish even more of the good they do, faster 

Cask

Cask, a company that accelerates digital transformation for clients on the ServiceNow platform, recently partnered with the City of Los Angeles and several other agencies to provide a scalable solution for the region’s efforts to get a handle on testing needs during the COVID-19 crisis.

Almost as soon as the crisis hit, Cask management made the decision to offer no-cost consulting for implementation of ServiceNow emergency management. As the ServiceNow Elite Partner of the year for the Americas, that offer was quickly taken up by multiple large enterprise customers and government agencies, including the City of Los Angeles -- which requested help in the form of a custom app. Named HealthBook, the app was developed after a 36-hour marathon programming session, and has now facilitated testing for more than 50,000 citizens of the city’s most vulnerable residents.

"What [the Cask] team has built in such a short period of time is amazing,” said Dr. Marc Eckstein, the COVID response team lead for the City of Los Angeles.

“The City of Los Angeles came to ServiceNow and Cask, asking how they solve for getting their citizens COVID-19 tests in a structured and orchestrated way,” added Mark Larsen, Cask President. “Now, they have a mechanism to do that. HealthBook is structured in a way that people can get to one of many locations - now 25 - across the city, have their appointment to get tested, and then move on, versus having to wait in line.”

Forecast 3D

FORECAST 3D is an additive manufacturer that uses 3D printing technology to produce parts for industrial and consumer equipment and devices. During the early days of the pandemic, the call came for anyone who could produce essential supplies like masks, face shields, and test swabs to help with unprecedented demand for these items. Practically overnight, the company shifted its operations to focus on the production of medical supplies to aid in the fight COVID-19.

Partnering with HP, which manufactures printer hardware that FORECAST 3D deploys in its operation, the company was able to obtain designs that were manufacturable to FDA/NIH-endorsed standards.

Today, the company can ship readily-available face shields, masks and nasopharyngeal swabs to healthcare facilities across the country. They are also working with medical equipment providers to make custom parts, such as a ventilator splitter, that allows two patients to use one ventilator machine.

"We are proud to be doing our part to help provide critical supplies to the healthcare workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle," said Ken Burns, commercial vice president at FORECAST 3D. "One of the benefits of additive manufacturing is its ability to adapt to changing product needs. Once we had FDA-approved or NIH-endorsed designs, we accelerated production on these much-needed supplies."

Trystar

A manufacturer of portable power equipment to help customers maintain their power infrastructure availability, Trystar saw an emerging need that it could fill. Since its equipment typically is deployed at events or during disaster response, Trystar was very quickly able to deploy its portable equipment for a new purpose – to power portable healthcare facilities, such as temporary hospitals, shelters, morgues, and testing facilities, including tents.

Trystar provides units across the country, in support of first responders, disaster relief organizations, utilities, and other temporary facilities involved in waging the battle against COVID-19. Trystar also is providing additional power for air conditioning and air filtration.

Protos Security

Safety and security protocols have changed for many businesses in light of COVID-19. That’s why, in addition to their normal security services, Protos security guards are now helping hospitals, grocers, and other essential businesses enforce social distancing policies and guiding patrons to hygiene essentials, which takes that burden off already-overwhelmed staff.