Dish network employees in El Paso making face shields for hospital workers at UMC

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- Help can often come from unexpected place.

Employees at Dish Network's manufacturing are now making face shields for hospital workers at University Medical Center.

“We started looking at what type of shortages the rest of the country was having. We jumped on the opportunity prior to it happening here, so we started building our own," UMC industrial health engineer Jose Garza said.

UMC reached out to Dish to see if they could get help making the shields.

“Doing this from here so we can assemble those for somebody to use in the hospital," Dish general manager Guillermo Ramirez said. "We couldn’t be prouder than that.”

Dr. Rodrigo Saenz deals with coronavirus patients. He said they provide a critical line of defense.

"This is going to be our first protection. The virus is going to attach to the surface of this plastic," Saenz said. "Once we get out of the room, we can either remove it, disinfect it, and at the same time we’re going to be protecting the integrity of our N95 masks."

Those are the masks that are so desperately in demand across the country.

"I’m extremely grateful," Saenz said. "These are the tools that we’re going to need in order to provide protection for ourselves.”

UMC officials also said two other Borderland businesses are helping make masks -- Ready One Industries and Texas Fabric and Foam.