Burbank Hollywood Costume Maker Providing Medical Uniforms To Local Hospitals

BURBANK (CBSLA) – Although Hollywood is feeling the pain of the economic shutdown along with the rest of the nation, a Burbank-based costume maker is doing what it can to provide healthcare workers with personal protective equipment.

The Motion Picture Costume Company outfits a lot of the medical uniforms for shows and movies set in hospitals. It has trailers filled with scrubs, suits and medical gowns that are unused.

When its owners saw that hospitals were running out of PPE, the company put out a notice out on social media offering its supplies for free.

"When you have something that no one else has, and they couldn't find it, it's very gratifying," co-owner Michele Archer told CBS2 Wednesday. "The nurses and doctors are doing everything for us, and that's the least we could do."

Dr. Angelique Campen with Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank has picked up dozens of items for her and her colleagues from the company, such as Tyvec suits.

"Nobody has put there health at risk, nobody has put their life in danger, and no patient has suffered for lack of PPE," Campen told CBS2. "That's not to say we are well supplied. We are being creative in how we stretch the lifespan of that PPE safely."

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Campen said she says hospitals should not have to rely on Hollywood for help obtaining PPE. She said she's reached out to members of Congress for help.

On Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that the city had signed a contract with manufacturer Honeywell to purchase 24 million N95 masks that would be sold at-cost to area hospitals.