Truckloads of gloves, masks, goggles donated to help out hospitals
\n<\/em><\/p>\nCourtesy of The College of Saint RoseEmily Ilowit, a nurse practitioner at The College of Saint Rose, collects gloves, masks and other supplies to donate to Albany Medical Center.
\nAlbany<\/p>\n
With schools closed indefinitely as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in New York, teachers and staff have been leading agrass-roots effort to donate protective gear to front-line health care workers who are facing a critical shortage of masks, gloves and cleaning supplies due to the outbreak.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo extended the statewide school closures until April 15, but with the federal government recommending social distancing continue through the end of the month, it\u2019s unclear when students might return to the classroom.<\/p>\n
David Knuffke, aformer director of grade 6-12 science in the Deer Park, Long Island district, said schools in New York have stockpiles of personal protective equipment, or PPE, locked up in science and technology rooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to figure school is probably out through June, so if this stuff is sitting there unused, it seems like a shame,\u201d Knuffke, who now lives in Singapore, said.<\/p>\n
He has reached out to his network of STEM teachers on Long Island to see if they had tried to contribute the supplies to front-line workers, and no one had yet considered the idea. The Buffalo News reports a similar push from teachers under way in the West Seneca school district.<\/p>\n
In the Capital Region, district donations are being coordinated by Capital Region BOCES and BOCES Questar III and will be delivered to county health agencies and hospitals in anticipation of the outbreak worsening.<\/p>\n
Mohonasen Superintendent Shannon Shine said the district provided several boxes of protective equipment to Capital Region BOCES, but he wasn\u2019t sure whether the district would be reimbursed for the contribution or how the supplies would be used.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am not sure whether the actual distribution of the PPE has occurred yet or if it\u2019s only on standby to be distributed if needed. … If they are not used or distributed I would expect they will be returned and go back into our inventory,\u201d Shine said.<\/p>\n
Some school districts are localizing their efforts, donating supplies to smaller medical practices that are staying open but are also impacted by the shortage of protective equipment. Cohoes City School District, for instance, gave 12 pairs of goggles from its chemistry lab to Harmony Mills Pediatrics. South Colonie has donated several boxes of disinfecting wipes, masks, and gloves to Albany County and Colonie EMS.<\/p>\n
New York State United Teachers joined the call last week for schools to contribute what they can. The teachers union released tips for those looking to gather resources that can protect those fighting the respiratory disease caused by novel coronavirus.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is important to work with your community throughout all stages of this effort,\u201d union officials wrote. \u201cFirst and foremost, if you intend to collect these items from your school or university, you must first connect with the appropriate people in your school\u2019s administration. Be mindful that items from schools\/universities are public goods, the support of your administration is necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
NYSED did not respond to questions about whether school districts would be reimbursed for supplies by late Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Last week, county health departments and medical facilities saw thousands of boxes of protective gear pour in from colleges and universities, as the last of the higher education institutions moved coursework online for the remainder of the semester.<\/p>\n
SUNY Schenectady delivered 300 surgical masks, 40 Tyvek suits, and 100 boxes of gloves to Ellis Hospital in Schenectady, leftover from its School of Hotel, Culinary Arts, and Tourism and science laboratories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important that we support one another, especially our health care professionals who are working directly with those affected by the coronavirus,\u201d SUNY Schenectady President Steady H. Moono said. \u201cWe are able to provide equipment to help them during this critical time, and we know that we are all stronger together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Union College donated 265 boxes of medical gloves, 13,250 pairs in total, to Ellis Hospital and Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital, with some going to St. Peter\u2019s Hospital in Albany.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonations such as this help to ensure the continued safety of our clinical care teams as they fight the spread of the COVID-19 virus,\u201d said Marcy Steiner, vice president\/executive director of The Foundation for Ellis Medicine.<\/p>\n
Maria College, a private liberal arts college in Albany that primarily trains nurses, has sent more than 10,000 pairs of gloves and hundreds of masks and gowns to the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan, which last week was retrofitted to become a temporary field hospital to handle overflow patients from New York hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we heard there was a need, Maria College mobilized quickly to answer the call for unused PPE items from our simulation labs and health care programs,\u201d Maria College President Dr. Thomas Gamble said, \u201cWe have the largest nursing programs in the area and as such we were stocked with gloves, masks, and gowns that are used in our simulation suites. Now they can go to use keeping people safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Siena College also sent about 10,000 pairs of gloves to the Javitz Center.<\/p>\n
Dawn Wrigley, a professor of nursing and department chairperson at Columbia-Greene Community College, said the school has donated several cases of gowns and masks to Columbia Memorial Health.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe packed up everything we could in our lab and filled a truck with boxes,\u201d she said. \u201cCMH has been an extraordinary supporter of C-GCC\u2019s Nursing program, and we will do anything we can to help them.<\/p>\n
The College of Saint Rose sent Albany Medical Center a van filled with gloves, gowns, hand sanitizer, and disinfecting wipes. Nurse Practioner Emily Ilowit organized the collection effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cSaint Rose is a big believer in supporting our dear neighbor, and we\u2019re happy to be able to help in any way that we can. Since our students have moved to remote learning for the rest of the semester, we wanted to send some of our Health Services Center supplies to those who are on the front lines of this pandemic,\u201d Saint Rose spokeswoman Jenn Gish said.<\/p>\n
Several colleges in the region are even mobilizing student volunteers to produce protective face shields using 3D printers and clear film. The design, which includes a headband fitted with a clear plastic shield, was approved by the National Institutes of Health on Monday.<\/p>\n
Jonathan Muckell, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering a the University at Albany, has 20 students making and assembling 3-piece medical face shields using 3-D printed parts, with the STEAM Garden in Albany providing supplies for some of the parts.<\/p>\n
Students and faculty at UAlbany\u2019s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity are also working with Rancher Labs on 3-D-printed face shields and dropped off 15 prototypes on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been overwhelmed by the unwavering support of our community,\u201d Albany Med Director Fred Venditti said. \u201cThe donation of 3-D-printed face shields from the University at Albany\u2019s College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity and Rancher Labs helps us ensure we have an adequate supply of personal protective equipment to support our health care workers who are working so tirelessly on the front lines to care for patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hudson Valley Community College\u2019s Advanced Manufacturing Technology program is also prototyping and preparing to manufacture plastic face shields for the staff at Saint Peter\u2019s Health Partners, which has a critical shortage of PPE.<\/p>\n
The Troy campus has also become an official point of distribution for emergency medical supplies and protective equipment that may be needed by public safety departments and other agencies in the county.<\/p>\n
— By Rachel Silberstein<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Published:<\/strong>\u00a0Tue, 31 Mar 2020 12:05:04 +0000 by\u00a0d.gardner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Times Union reported on what Hudson Valley Community College and other schools are doing to assist local officials…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14066\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chronicle.hvcc.edu\/wpdev\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}