MIDDLETOWN, Pa. (WHTM) — Every soldier needs good armor before heading into battle and health care workers fighting COVID-19 are no different.

A Middletown company has made it its mission to outfit Midstate healthcare workers with the best of the best.

So far, 246 volunteers inside TE Connectivity’s Middletown campus have made over 18,000 face shields to date with their technology.

“We talked about it — a different design — a group of us — and we decided to give it a shot,” said Bob Zubrickie, manager of 3D Printing & Prototyping Center at TE Connectivity.

That shot was a bulls-eye. As hospitals around the globe plead for PPE TE answered the call, by making shields for 58 hospitals across the country — 19 in Pennsylvania. 

“It takes a whole community to really make this happen and attack what you need to attack out there,” Zubrickie said.

That attack means a little something extra to Zubrickie. 

“I got people in the family here that I have to protect. So, I took some personal interest into it, and that’s why my drive was there so much to make sure that they were safe,” Zubrickie said.

His wife works at UPMC, and his daughter works at Geisinger Holy Spirit Camp Hill. 

“Of course, somebody like myself, I pull my weight a little bit more by making supper and making sure my wife gets her rest,” Zubrickie said.

Those healthcare workers are digging the design. Several people have told TE they’re more functional than hospital issued shields. 

‘People like the design. It’s lightweight. It ventilates. It doesn’t fog up. We thought about — you know — this product,” Zubrickie said.

They’re thinking of the product, so healthcare workers only have to think about healing. 

“They go countless hours and tireless hours trying as much as they can to help us out, and the community is behind them 150 percent,” Zubrickie said.

Zubrickie said they’ve set a goal to make 100,000 face shields, but they’ll keep going as long as there’s a need.