The student-led nonprofit MedSupplyDrive is collecting hospital supplies and distributing them across 37 states and the UK.
Health workers across the US have found themselves in the dire situation of having to fight the coronavirus without being able to take all the necessary precautions, so physicians have been turning to social media in an effort to get hold of the necessary equipment. To help these practitioners out, a group of third-year medical students from Georgetown University has launched MedSupplyDrive, a cross-country operation to help supply hospitals across America and the UK with the necessary protective equipment like masks, non-latex gloves and bleach.
Are you a clinician in need of supplies? 👇🏽https://t.co/TImWlGO4Bt
Are you a lab or individual and have supplies to donate? 👇🏽https://t.co/zQri1KINtr
Want to volunteer? 👇🏽https://t.co/zQri1KINtr
Press/Questions: Contact Zuby [@craniocaudal] or https://t.co/34TiLRoXyL pic.twitter.com/cwp0C4HuNz
— MedSupplyDrive (@MedSupplyDrive) March 21, 2020
“Our mission is to bring together a coalition of health professionals, researchers, lab workers, health science students, and US citizens to organize systems for mobilizing supplies and getting them to hospitals in dire need,” says the group on their website.
Regional and city coordinators manage the collection process by which volunteers are gathering supplies from local businesses including nail salons, tattoo parlors and construction sites. Supplies are then delivered to local hospitals through no-contact deliveries and if local entities have enough supplies, the excess equipment can also be shipped to hotspots like New York City.
So incredibly proud of our Washington DC volunteers 🤍 Because of the large network in DC, they have been lucky enough to collect excess supplies to ship!#medsupplydrive #GetMePPE #Students_Against_COVID #GetUsPPE #WeNeedPPE #PPEshortage #Covid_19 pic.twitter.com/efYnnybbd9
— MedSupplyDrive (@MedSupplyDrive) March 28, 2020
So far the project has had such an overwhelming response, it hasn’t taken long for the initiative to spark interest outside of DC. This has allowed MedSupplyDrive to extend its volunteer network across 37 states and all the way across the UK.
Our DT Dept. delivered much-needed safety face shields and specs to busy St George’s hospital, London yesterday in response to @MedSupplyDrive UK – we very much hope it helps #NHSheroes #StayAtHome pic.twitter.com/AgG3oVbPgV
— Langley Park School forBoys (@LPSBNews) March 30, 2020
The initiative now has over 400 volunteers, many of which are also medical students and keeps growing by the hour.
We are elated by the work of our wonderful volunteer community across the nation! Check out our progress to date: pic.twitter.com/s8ciHgVEUJ
— MedSupplyDrive (@MedSupplyDrive) March 30, 2020