Prime Inc. recently donated $700,000 to help fund a new COVID-19 unit for Missouri-based CoxHealth. The donation covered all the construction costs associated with the project.  

“During this chaotic time, it’s important to come together as a community. So, when CoxHealth leadership told us about this need, we were glad to contribute,” says Robert Low, CEO of Prime, Inc. “We are all in this together. We will persevere and defeat this virus. We thank our Prime associates – in-house and drivers – who are certainly doing their part to keep essential goods moving throughout the nation. We also want to thank our front-line health care workers and let them know: We support you!”

The unit is housed at the Cox South location in Springfield, Missouri, and was completed in just two weeks. The shelled floor of the medical center was transformed into a 51-bed, ward-style intensive care ventilator unit designed to care for a possible surge of COVID-related illness.

“Thanks to great community collaboration, including partially donated labor and supplies, the cost of the unit was kept at a minimum, but still $700,000 of construction costs remained,” says Steve Edwards, president and CEO of CoxHealth. “Then came Prime, Inc., to make up the difference. I suspect, that for the rest of my life, every time I see a Prime truck rolling down the highway, I will reflect with gratitude for what they did for our community during this time of national crisis. They wrapped their arms around our hospital and our community. So, from one essential provider to another, thank you, Robert and Lawana Low, and the entire team at Prime, Inc.” 

The new unit offers an opportunity for improved care for patients, who will be located in large open spaces as opposed to individual rooms, allowing for conservation of personal protective equipment.