Six tractor-trailer rigs lined up early Sunday morning at a federal surplus warehouse in North Little Rock and began discharging cargo of personal protective equipment, and an area businessman was largely responsible for bringing the shipment to Arkansas. Stone County Ironworks CEO Corky Baker of Mountain View joined Governor Asa Hutchinson and others to assist in unloading protective gloves, isolation gowns, face masks and face shields bound for health care providers throughout the state to combat the cornonavirus pandemic.
According to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Baker became involved nearly six weeks ago when his older son, Michael, a dentist in Springfield, called and told his father he did not have access to proper protective equipment. Corky Baker says his son told him he and his staff were repeatedly using disposable masks. He says he had an organization on the ground in China, and nearly three days later, someone in his organization sent an email saying some of their factories were being converted to mask-making at the behest of the Chinese government.
Corky Baker and another son, Andrew, his business partner, decided to check if they could source enough masks to supply every resident of Stone County. He stated through contacts he has at Arkansas PBS, he reached leadership at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and was asked if he could secure additional equipment for Arkansas health care workers.
Corky Baker said it’s difficult to find a factory willing to send shipments to the United States because the Chinese government has threatened its factories with a soft edict not to ship medical supplies to America. Andrew Baker said to get around the edict, he enlisted the assistance of some partners in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. Supplies were arranged to be taken to Guangzhou and consolidated there. The supplies would then be either transported to Shanghai or sent to various foreign destinations for shipment to the U.S. Corky and Andrew Baker both said success was not assured, until the whole shipment touched down at Memphis International Airport.
Corky Baker said the shipment being unloaded Sunday represents nearly 20% of the goods secured so far. He anticipates several more shipments coming to Arkansas in later weeks.
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