Dynamic Air Shelters wins federal field hospital contract

A business on the Burin Peninsula has been awarded a contract aiding the federal government'scoronavirus pandemic response.

Dynamic Air Shelters will design, manufacture, deliver and install ninesheltersin Pukatawagan, a First Nations community in Northern Manitoba which will help to provide enhanced screening, the isolation of community membersand additional accommodation space for health professionals.

However, a spokesperson forIndigenous Services Canadasaid departmental officials are continuing their discussions with the community on further infrastructure needs, including the use of temporary structures. The ISC saida final decision has not yet been made.

Dynamic Air Shelters, which employs 47 people in Grand Bank, manufactures inflatable shelters that are blast-proof, can be deployed quickly and withstand extreme weather.

CEO David Quick said the company is honoured to help the federal government, First Nationsand healthcare providers respond to the pandemic. He said the contract brings the company back to its roots, building rapid response shelters.

Dynamic Air Shelters partnered with two other Canadian companies, First Pac West from Vancouver and Dymond Group in Ottawa, on the contract with Indigenous Services Canada, which was awarded Wednesday.

The company will provide a medical unit for screening and triage, four isolation units and four accommodations units.

The structurehas to be installed by May 21, and Quick said the company will likely finish manufacturing the structures by the end of this week.

"So it's a very, verytight timeline," he said.

Quick said the contract is good news for the company at a time when many other businesses are closed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

"We are overjoyed, and like every business, and particularly small business, in Canada I'd be lying to you if I told you I wasn't nervous for the last few months," said Quick.

Quick said they've changed their shift schedule and staggered lunch breaks so workers canadhere to physical distance requirements.

"We started doing rehearsals to try to figure out in the manufacturing facility how could we build by still maintaining those social distances," he said.

There's no road leading to the First Nations community where the structureswill be set up, which Quick said adds another layer of complexity to the project.

"So everything we've made is in little chunks, little bundles, so that it can be packaged on little aircraft and flown into a very short runway so that it can be put in the back of pickup trucks," he said.

Earlier this month, the company was preparing for an increase in sales due to the pandemic.

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