At the beginning of 2020, ConvenientMD was looking toward expansion. The Portsmouth-based company had plans to open multiple new locations, and continue to offer more intensive services that are usually reserved for hospitals, like infusions for patients with long-term conditions like multiple sclerosis or arthritis. The company was also preparing to launch a telehealth platform, but more for balancing loads between locations than for delivering care to patients directly.

However, the leadership of the company, including Co-founder and Executive Chairman Gareth Dickens, was also monitoring the coronavirus emerging in China. Before the virus was declared a pandemic, Dickens and his team could see what was coming, and began stocking up on personal protective equipment. Soon, a conference room at the company’s Portsmouth headquarters was transformed into a PPE holding space.