Previously we wrote about Ford's face shields reaching hospitals in the Bay area: we're pleased to report that two palettes carrying 5000 face shields reached the Citizens of Humanity distribution center, where within minutes our LA team including volunteers MedSupplyDrive and GetUsPPE LA mobilized, sending face shields to 11 hospitals in and around Los Angeles.
Frederico Pagnetti, COO of Citizens of Humanity, who was on-site assisting with unloading, also presented 500 cloth masks, carefully cut and crafted with the intent of helping provide protection and curbing droplet spread for healthcare workers outside of the hospital; earlier we also wrote that 500 of these masks were also on their way to Stony Brook Medicine on Long Island.
Yakov, a member of MedSupplyDrive in LA, was sent home from clinical rotations earlier this year due to efforts to limit student exposures to COVID. "We're training to be doctors, we were already seeing patients, and now we're benched when the healthcare system needs all hands on deck". Frustrated by their inability to provide care directly to patients, medical students like Yakov became the workhorses of DonatePPE, collecting and delivering donations to hospitals. "We can't just sit and watch- there's things we can do to help our friends, our teachers on the frontlines".
Face shields from this shipment were donated to USC+LAC hospital, Keck Medical Center of USC, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente West LA, White Memorial Hospital, MLK Community Hospital, Good Samaritan Hospital, Dignity Health California Hospital, Providence Saint John's Medical Center in Santa Monica, and UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange.
There are many more hospitals within and around Los Angeles that DonatePPE is planning to deliver PPE to, with multiple shipments of face shields, masks and goggles planned. Said Frederico: "If we can do more, we will do more: we [Citizens of Humanity] are ready to receive." And we at DonatePPE are ready to deliver.