Lehman College is doing its part to answer the growing calls for medical supplies needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic in New York. On Monday, the College donated 165 N95 respirator masks, 50 pairs of slip-on medical shoe covers and boxes of latex gloves to Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx.
“All the faculty and staff in the Biology and Chemistry departments were very excited to be asked to help and scoured the teaching and research labs to discover a few boxes of N95 masks, masks we do not routinely use,” said Pamela Mills, chemistry professor and interim dean of the School of Natural and Social Sciences, wrote in an email. “They told me they wished they had ordered more so we would have more to donate! We are all in this together and we want everyone to come through this difficult period healthy and safe.”
The medical-grade masks and gloves will be used to help protect doctors, nurses, surgeons and other medical professionals providing healthcare for COVID-19 patients who are being treated for respiratory failure. The highly-contagious virus is spread from person-to-person through the air and by contact with infected surfaces or objects.
The supplies were gathered from various Lehman schools and departments including the School of School of Human Services, Health Sciences and Nursing, the biology and chemistry departments in the School of Natural and Social Sciences, buildings and grounds, environmental health and safety, and even the Lehman Stages Scenery Shop.
Medical workers caring for those with COVID-19 across the country have reported severe shortages of needed medical supplies. A Montefiore administrator in the Emergency Medicine Department expressed her gratitude for the donation in an email to Lehman’s Assistant Provost Victor Brown.
“I was fortunate enough to come across some very special individuals at Lehman College that gladly heeded the call to duty and willingly donated whatever supplies they had available,” said Eileen De Leon of Montefiore. “This is what a community does during times like this. We come together...it takes a village.”
“It is at times like this that we have to come together to work for the welfare of the community,” said Brown, whose office helped coordinate the campus’ response to the medical center’s need. “As an institution of higher learning and a leader in the community, Lehman College is committed to the health and safety of all students, faculty, staff, the community and our community partners.”