“At the back of my mind there was a desire to help the community, that’s the motivation, and frankly the most rewarding part of developing this line of product.”
In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, local businessman Greg Forsythe and his wife Shanon were expecting their first child. At the same time, Greg decided it was time to use his family’s 109-years of experience in blending to develop a new division of Forsythe Lubrication called Forsythe Health Care.
Together in May 2020, Forsythe Health Care and baby Mason were born. The day after Mason’s birth, Greg was taking his largest order for their new line of hand sanitizers.
“It was surreal,” says Greg, the Director of Forsythe Health Care. “Being in the hospital during COVID gave me a new appreciation for the dedication and hard work of our health care teams.”
While Mason’s delivery went well, the newborn spent six days in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), as he experienced some complications after birth. Due to COVID-19 regulations, Greg was sent home, while Shanon remained in hospital.
“Not being able to be there to support Shanon was very difficult,” he says. “But I was reassured by the nurses that both Mason and Shanon were receiving the best care possible.” As a result of his experience, Greg decided he wanted to give back to Hamilton Health Sciences.
“When I founded Forsythe Health Care, we formulated the hand sanitizer to meet the needs of the hospitals, by providing the best product with the most complete hand coverage. At the back of my mind there was a desire to help the community, that’s the motivation, and frankly the most rewarding part of developing this line of product.”
What started as a very generous donation of individual bottles of Forsythe Hand Sanitizer to staff of the 3F Clinic, Labour & Delivery and NICU at MacKids turned into a formal Care4 cause marketing relationship with Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. For each bottle of hand sanitizer sold through retail and commercial channels, Forsythe Health Care will contribute $0.10 to a maximum of $20,000 a year.
“We are truly grateful to Greg and his team at Forsythe Health Care for this generous support,” says Tamara Pope, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation. “With a commitment to a high-quality product so that individuals can keep themselves safe, Forsythe Health Care’s contributions help us provide vital equipment so that clinical teams have the tools they need to care for their patients.”
