Since the World Health Organization declared coronavirus a global health emergency, MedShare has donated more than $1.3 million worth of aid, including more than 2.8 million masks and nearly 200,000 isolation gowns to hospitals and clinics to help medical personnel working on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.
The objective of MedShare’s Disaster Relief program is to provide medical supplies and equipment to communities where there are gaps in the infrastructure or lack of access to critical supplies needed to support recovery.
As concern over the coronavirus outbreak has grown across the U.S., hospitals and clinics are experiencing a rapid increase in patients seeking treatment. As a result, the need for medical supplies is great. We have been working with local safety-net clinics in the Bay Area to provide masks, gowns, and gloves in order to help protect healthcare workers who are treating vulnerable populations of people in their communities.
MedShare collaborated with the California Primary Care Association to conduct a Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) needs assessment with 34 different clinics across the state. These clinics support underserved populations in California. With the growing demand for their services, they are experiencing a shortage of PPE and aren’t expected to receive replenishments from manufacturers until mid-April. MedShare found that several of the more than 50 clinics that we already work with in the San Francisco Bay Area needed supplies as well. In total, supplies will be provided to 46 clinics in California.
To help fill the anticipated gap over the next few weeks, Blue Shield of California has committed $100,000 to MedShare to provide needed PPE to these clinics in California. “Safety-net clinics are facing shortages of medical supplies, such as masks and gowns, which are necessary to protect patients and providers from virus spread,“ says Malaika Stoll, MD and senior medical director for Blue Shield of California. “Our work with MedShare is to address these shortages, and this work aligns with our mission of providing care that is worthy of our family and friends.”
Charles Redding, CEO and President of MedShare added, “We’re committed to working together with our partners to provide medical supplies and equipment to underserved communities in this time of need.”
You can support our coronavirus response efforts here.
