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The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is turning to an unusual source for help this week as it tries to curb COVID-19 among hundreds of in-patient treatment clients — liquor distillers.

Hazelden Betty Ford says it has run out of hand sanitizer for many of its five program locations around the country, so it’s turning to a coalition led by Tattersall Distilling and other Minneapolis liquor producers.

The Minnesota-based organization normally keeps any alcohol-based products out of its chemical dependency treatment facilities to keep patients from drinking it, said Dawne Carlson, vice president of human resources. The COVID-19 outbreak has forced Hazelden to look at alternatives.

Hazelden leaders contacted brewers, then distillers, who came up with an alcohol-based spray solution.

“That’s how we were able to overcome it,” Carlson said in an interview. “And frankly, at this point, we’re open. We’re really doing our best to serve our patients in this crisis. It’s more important to keep our patients and our staff safe, and certainly we’ll put some additional security measures in place, so nobody ingests the product.”

Tattersall Distilling founder Jon Kreidler said he was joining forces with Du Nord Craft Spirits and Brother Justus Whiskey to ramp up production. They have the legal ability to import large quantities of ethanol — by the tanker, even — and mix it with glycerol, hydrogen peroxide and water to make an effective hand sanitizer, using a World Health Organization recipe.

“We’re distributing it to individual organizations, like the (Hazelden) Betty Ford Foundation. We’re distributing it and handing it out with our sales guys. They’re out on the street handing it out like crazy,” Kreidler said. “We’ve got a partnership with our distributor, Johnson Brothers, and then Lunds & Byerlys and we’re going to get it into a small format and we’re going to get it into all of their stores, so that individuals can get it.”

They think they can make about 9,000 gallons of sanitizer a week, and help put some of their employees back to work. Selling some will subsidize free distribution to police and fire departments and in other situations, he added.

“We’re just trying to get it into the hands of all the high-risk facilities,” Kriedler said. “All the different facilities, health care, first responders, that need it across the state so we can hopefully slow down the spread and do our part.”

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The world famous Minnesota-based addiction treatment center says non-alcohol sanitizer is in short supply, so it called on local liquor makers to help stock up sanitizer for hundreds of patients.

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