In the wee hours of the morning—on a Saturday, no less—a request for help came in: University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics needed 20,000+ face shields to help protect its health care staff from being infected with COVID-19.

“I placed a call to team members, and within minutes we had staff online searching the internet for face shields,” says Debby Zumbach, UI associate vice president and director of business services and purchasing. “Less than two hours later, we had secured the volume, with various arrival dates.”

An hour later, she adds, another request from the hospital came through, and the group got to work again, sourcing the items from both existing and new vendors.