Americares is producing more than 1.4 million protecting medical face masks for the health workers on the first lines of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The city of New York has previously admitted 300,000 masks, and the state of Connecticut and Boston Medical Center in Massachusetts have each gained 100,000.
In Puerto Rico, 40,000 medical face masks will be shared among 11 of Americares partner health centers on the island. The rest of the musks are directed to California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Washington, where state and city leaders will oversee the administration and allocation of numbers to medical equipment based on need.
Health Facilities
Americares collaborated with longtime partner, the GE Foundation, to source the critically required masks from a GE supplier in China. Medtronic Foundation and the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation also produced valid payment for the purchase and distribution of the emergency equipment.
“Clinics and health facilities across the country are fast running out of the special emergency equipment needed to keep health workers safe while maintaining the sufferers with COVID-19,” replied Americares vice president of Emergency Programs Kate Dischino. “These quantities will help thousands of health workers maintain their lifesaving work.”
The masks are KN95, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to be a proper choice for health workers when N95 covers are not likely. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced an emergency use authorization to allow the use of KN95 masks that meet exacting criteria in the U.S.
Support Healthcare Workers
“The whole GE family is getting together to support fight COVID-19,” stated GE Foundation president Linda Boff. “GE workers around the globe are ramping up products to make critical healing instruments, keeping planes flying to deliver essential supplies to locations worldwide and servicing utility clients so that the world can fight the virus continuously.
The GE Foundation is proud to work with Americares to procure and donate needed personal emergency equipment to support healthcare workers and defend sufferers.”
“We are dedicated to supporting the brave front line workers who are delivering important services to those in need,” said Paurvi Bhatt, president of the Medtronic Foundation.
“Reacting quickly to what is required most needs partnerships across our business and with nonprofits, like Americares. We have cooperated with Americares on a variety of accident response efforts over the years, and this trusted partnership is helping to get PPE to those in need fast so they can stay safe as they care for sufferers with COVID-19.”
Lifesaving Equipment
“It is critically essential that we come together as a society to address the medical supply deficits facing those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 acknowledgment,” stated John Damonte, president, the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation.
“As part of our long-standing supporter of Americares and our organization’s responsibility to COVID-19 response applications, we’re proud to maintain this valuable work that will go a long way in helping meet this critical need.”
Americares is producing critically required protective gear, education, and loving support for health workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure they can maintain their lifesaving work. To date, Americares has sent protective gear and disease control numbers to health departments in the United States, Haiti, Honduras, India, Lebanon, the Philippines, and Tanzania.
Disease Outbreaks
In the U.S. alone, Americares has produced 25 tons of protective supplies to health facilities in 40 states. Besides, Americares is training health workers in infection arrest and control, disaster preparation, and mental health and psychosocial care.
Americares has a long history of returning to infectious disease outbreaks, including cholera, Ebola, dengue, and Zika breaks. The company has acknowledged relief workers ready to respond to emergencies at a moment’s notice. It stocks emergency medicine and types of equipment in warehouses in the U.S., Europe, and India that can be performed immediately in times of crisis.
