FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 12/18/2020

(Fort Lauderdale, FL) Andy Zapata, CEO and Founder of Physical Therapy Now had the honor of receiving more than one thousand medical-grade masks from an unlikely philanthropist.  The heartwarming gesture was featured on WSVN Channel 7, Miami-Dade’s Fox News affiliate.  

Sophye Fahrer ,46, who developed COVID-19 in late March and spent nearly 6 weeks fighting the deadly disease that has killed more than 280,000 Americans.  Her pre-existing medical conditions were made even worse because of the coronavirus, causing her to be now classified as a ‘long hauler’—COVID-19 survivors who struggle for months—and perhaps years—afterward with the after-effects of the disease. 

Following Fahrer’s initial battle with COVID-19, the former Director of Client Relations for a major South Florida law firm (she is now on disability) decided to help doctors, nurses and physical therapists deal with the inadequate supply of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) by supplying these medical professionals with FREE, high-grade KN95 and three-ply surgical masks.  She has purchased $200,000 worth of masks to give away to frontline workers. She included physical therapists, like those at Physical Therapy Now in Fort Lauderdale, because these specialists are a key to the long-term recovery of COVID-19 survivors. 

Fahrer donated a haul of 1,200 masks (400 of the KN95, 850 of the three-ply) to the staff of five Physical Therapy Now facilities, one of South Florida’s leading physical therapy franchise operations. The cost of the donation is valued at more than $2,000.  

In addition, Fahrer and her company, Health Care Safety Supply (HealthCareSafetySupply.com), which she founded after her battle with COVID-19 as a method of thanking the South Florida medical community, will also donate a total of 1,000 masks to the nurses at Broward Health Medical Center at a cost of more $3,200. 

Fahrer calls her efforts ‘Sophye’s Butterfly Effect,” a metaphor for the existence of seemingly insignificant moments that alter history and shape destiny.  She is asking the public to join the Butterfly Effect Movement by donating to the movement on her website, HealthCareSafetySupply.com. She is not making any profits on the sales of masks but rather uses the money to donate additional masks to the medical community and first responders.