Atlanta Lawyers Are Connecting Georgia Hospitals With N95 Masks

Atlanta lawyers John Ayoub and Brad Carver have temporarily gotten into the N95 mask delivery business.

On Friday morning, Ayoub, a real estate lawyer at Ayoub Mansour & Bryant, and Carver, a leader of Hall Booth Smith’s government affairs practice, delivered almost 9,000 N95 masks to Shepherd Center in Ayoub’s wife’s minivan.

Hall Booth lobbyist Chuck Clay came along for the ride—he too is helping connect Georgia hospitals with a Chinese supplier.

The lawyers are facilitating shipments from the supplier, Homar Bio-Technology in Guangzhou, with other local hospitals as well, and will be delivering 40,000 masks to Emory University Hospital this week.

“This is a desperate situation for everybody,” Carver said. “Social distancing is making a huge impact. Most people are taking it seriously, but the bigger, better way to control the spread of this global pandemic is to get people wearing masks.”

The need is critical for medical personnel and first responders, he added, because of the current mask shortage in the United States. “We need these things today—yesterday,” Carver said.

Ayoub learned that Homar was able to supply large quantities of masks, plus other personal protective equipment, or PPE, from a high school friend, Matt Hise, who’s now in the import-export business in New York. Hise’s company, Star Brands Group, had just partnered with Homar, which recently shifted into N95 mask production. Star Brands just facilitated Homar’s sale of two million N95 masks to Sweden. Hise called Ayoub last week to see if the Atlanta lawyer could help him get the masks to Georgia hospitals. 

Homar’s masks, Ayoub learned, are FDA-approved and reasonably priced at $1.56 apiece, plus shipping, which he said cost $1,200 for the initial order via FedEx air freight from China to Atlanta. For larger orders, the masks are priced a bit lower, he added.

Ayoub didn’t have any connections with hospitals or Georgia government, but he knew a lawyer who did—Carver, his law school classmate at the University of Georgia.

Hall Booth, which has a large medical malpractice defense practice, represents 76 hospitals in Georgia and also has connections in state government through its lobbying practice.

Masks from the Chinese supplier.

Carver would ordinarily be busy at the state Capitol right now, representing energy companies and other clients. But with the legislative session suspended due to quarantine, he had time to help Ayoub get the masks to those who need them.

Ayoub said Shepherd was the first hospital they approached, because Hise’s mother had worked there for many years. “They were very receptive,” he said, adding that some hospitals have been more skeptical about this unfamiliar new mask source. 

One issue for the hospitals in using an unfamiliar supplier and distributor is that Homar requires advance payment, which is how Ayoub, Carver and Clay ended up driving the boxes of masks to Shepherd in person. 

To get things started, Ayoub said, Hise ordered 9,000 masks from Homar last Monday, using his company’s credit, and directed the air-freight order to Ayoub’s house in Atlanta’s Vista Grove neighborhood.

“We ordered them on Monday night, so I thought it would take 10 days to get them from China,” Ayoub said. But only four days later, on Friday morning, a FedEx worker rang Ayoub’s doorbell with 10 big boxes of N95 masks. 

John Ayoub with masks loaded in his wife’s minivan to take to Shepherd Center. (Courtesy photo)

Ayoub gave one package of masks to the delivery man, loaded the rest in his wife’s minivan and headed to Shepherd with Carver and Clay. 

Shepherd’s procurement officer wired payment to Homar, the lawyer said, and will be dealing directly with the manufacturer in the future.

“We are getting the word out to other medical facilities,” Carver said, adding that he has also informed the governor’s Coronavirus Task Force and the Georgia Hospital Association of the new mask source. “Anybody who has the need—we can help get them to the right people for this supplier.”

This story has been updated to reflect that John Ayoub lives in Vista Grove, not Virginia Highlands.