HealthTrust, a leading performance improvement organization for healthcare, today presented Ford Motor Company with the inaugural Challenge Accepted Award in recognition of Project Apollo, the auto maker’s bold contribution to manufacture and deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) to hospitals, first responders and at-risk communities during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Initiated in March 2020, Ford, in partnership with United Auto Workers, produced and distributed millions of units of urgently needed PPE to help protect healthcare providers and communities across the United States – at no cost to the receiving organizations. Under Project Apollo, Ford’s workforce produced:

• 120 million face masks
• 22 million face shields
• 1.6 million washable isolation gowns
• 50,000 patient ventilators (by the end of August)
• More than 32,000 powered air-purifying respirators in collaboration with 3M

David Osborn, HealthTrust senior vice president, Account Management and Sales presented Ford with the inaugural Challenge Accepted Award at the HealthTrust University Conference in Nashville, Tenn. “The work that Ford did in accepting and rising to the challenge that COVID presented to all of us was significant and made a huge difference in terms of our ability to support our members with the critical supplies and equipment they needed to treat patients and keep their staffs safe,” Osborn said. “It was an absolutely amazing feat that impacted countless lives across the country and we are forever grateful to Ford and the UAW.”

HealthTrust established the Challenge Accepted Award in the spirit of recognizing deserving organizations that demonstrate leadership in overcoming obstacles to support the health of their communities.

About HealthTrust

HealthTrust (Healthtrust Purchasing Group, L.P.) is committed to strengthening provider performance and clinical excellence through an aligned membership model and the delivery of total spend management advisory solutions that leverage operator experience, scale and innovation. Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., HealthTrust serves over 1,600 hospitals and health systems, and more than 55,000 other locations including ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, long-term care and alternate care sites.

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