The Ottawa Senators Foundation announced on Monday the launch of a $500,000 fundraising initiative to support a community-led "Shielding Heroes" campaign to ensure personal protective equipment of face-shield frames & face shields get to Ottawa-area and Eastern Ontario hospitals that are low in supply amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The campaign seeks to ensure the PPE will be shipped weekly for the next 12 weeks.

The equipment being shipped is Ontario-made and designed and was approved on Apr. 6 by Health Canada. The shields and frames are the result of a collaboration among the Senators Foundation, Hewlett-Packard Canada and LEO Lab, an orthotic production facility that utilizes 3D printing technology. The lab will produce 3,500 units weekly at a cost of $12 per unit. The frames can be sterilized up to four times, meaning that they are multi-use rather than disposable.

Among the hospitals set to receive the equipment include the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario, the Ottawa Heart Institute and the Queensway-Carleton Hospital.