TUCSON, Ariz. - A Tucson-based tent company has found itself providing COVID-19 care and testing structures for hospitals all across the country.
616GC is a company that provides large tents for different parties, conventions and different events. It most notably provides the tent structures for the Tucson Gem Show.
When COVID-19 pandemic began ramping up in the United States, the company shifted its purpose.
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“I’m thinking to myself, wow, what can we do here to help this situation and immediately I thought of local hospitals," said Andy Madura, with 616GC.
Murray Hamilton, the company's CEO, said they quickly sprang into action.
“We started reaching out to some hospitals, clients of ours," he said.
It wasn't soon after that hospitals and others across the country began seeking the company out.
“We started getting calls from national government agencies, FEMA, Army Corps of Engineers," said Hamilton, “we then were immediately tasked with dispatching 80,000 square feet to the Seattle area.”
At the Mayo Clinic Hospital in the Phoenix-area, the company provided both COVID-19 care and testing structures, according to Hamilton.
He said the shift in purpose has helped the company out financially, especially after large events came to an end.
“The financial outlook initially was decimating honestly," said Hamilton.
He added the company has also provided COVID-19 care structures to prisons throughout the country, however, he could not disclose exactly where.
