#GetMePPE for Hospitals

AHFC19 
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Americans Help Fight COVID19 ("AHFC19") is a community organizing, grass-root nonprofit organization with the purpose of acquiring Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other essential supplies to hospitals, healthcare workers, first-responders, essential workers and other at-risk populations during the COVID19 pandemic in the DC-Baltimore region and beyond, throughout the US. 

On March 22nd, Christy Hoang learned of the disruption in the medical supply chain and shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) across the U.S. for frontline healthcare workers. With her experience as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) Consultant in Procurement at the U.S. Department of State, she wanted to use her skills to help find PPE to donate to hospitals ASAP, as well as helping restore the medical supply chain by researching suppliers, connecting hospitals and local/state government to suppliers and provide procurement consulting pro bono to both buyer and vendor sides. She shared with her friends and confidants her desire to help and they came together. Americans Help Fight Covid19 was found and brought on medical advisor, critical care nursing advisors, legal advisor, finance advisor and tech advisor to start form the  Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) nonprofit and started organizing donation drives for PPE in the DC metro.

AHFC19 has been actively donating supplies including, but not limited to, N95 masks, KN95 masks, surgical masks, sewn masks, 3D printed face shields, home-made face shields, gloves, hand sanitizer, medical gowns, trash bags, sanitizing wipes, power snacks and other essential supplies and equipment to hospitals, healthcare workers, first-responders, essential workers and other at-risk populations and members of the community free of charge.

OUR COLLECTIVE MISSION

May 2020 - The DC metro currently has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. In the DMV (DC, MD, VA), there are over 97,000 confirmed COVID-related cases and over 4,000 deaths - contributing to 7.7% of all deaths in the US. DMV is currently the hardest-hit COVID-19 region in the US. COVID-19 has impacted the lives of every DMV resident, and now more than ever, DMV frontline workers need Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help save the region.

The Community PPE initiative aims to provide free, essential PPE supplies to DMV communities that need it most in order to help protect frontline workers and lessen the spread of COVID-19.

What We Do: 

‍ ‍♀️ Locate Available PPE via Donors or Organizations | Find Nearest Hospitals to Available PPE | PPE Donation Drop-Off

1.  Accept in-kind product donations and deliver to requested healthcare facilities throughout the U.S.
2.  Accept money donations and use it to buy PPE to donate to requested healthcare facilities based on donor's earmarked requests
3.  Share Open Source PPE procurement and production resources and info with all collaborators and partners
4.  Replicate our model throughout the communities across the U.S. 
5.  Mentor all communities to use our model or any help we can provide to drive PPE donations to healthcare facilities
6.  Connect PPE suppliers to healthcare facilities and local and state government for large scale PPE procurement
7.  Do anything within our power to help fight this global pandemic.

Where The Needs Are 

Here are some of the DMV Frontline PPE Stories:

All hospitals and other healthcare facilities are asking for N95 masks and surgical masks.
Many hospitals ask for all PPE (masks, gowns, face shields, goggles, gloves, hair covers and shoe covers).
A nurse at a hospital in Fairfax County, VA said he has to reuse one surgical mask for up to 5 patients and one N95 mask for up to 25 patients.
A doctor at a hospital in Anne Arundel County, MD has to reuse N95 masks and isolation gowns.
ICU nurses at a hospital in Prince George’s County, MD have been wearing the same hair covers for 2 weeks. The hospital has run out of hair covers and shoe covers completely for a long time.
A nurse at a nursing home in Montgomery County, MD ran out of hair covers.
ICU nurses at a hospital in DC have to reuse N95 masks.
Doctors in a DC hospital ran out of shoe covers and hair covers.
EMS in Baltimore, MD can’t get PPE supplies fast enough.
ICU nurses have to wear 3 layers (scrubs, isolation gowns and a third layer (including rain ponchos or trash bags)) to be the most protective.
Fairfax County, VA government is asking for cloth face covering donations for vulnerable residents.
Dentists in VA and MD are asking for PPE and COVID-19 testing of patients and staff. 
Primary/Urgent care providers are asking for PPE to take care of their chronically ill and now COVID+ patients.


Fight with us!! ✊❤️ https://www.americanshelpfightcovid19.org/getinvolved

You can create your own community and tag us too so we can share info/resources. May it be your religious group, ethnic group or city or neighborhood location...organize and help drive donations for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for hospitals/frontline healthcare providers and workers! Fight together!✊❤️

Please join and share! Stay safe ❤️

#GetMePPE
#GetUsPPE
#SupportTheFrontlines
#ProtectTheFrontlines
#ProtectOurDoctors
#ProtectOurNurses
#ProtectHealthcareWorkers
#ProtectEssentialWorkers

P.S. I also created my community group - Vietnamese Americans Help Fight Coronavirus to rally people and businesses to help donate PPE. -CH


FAQ

What does success look like?

To give emotional support and physical protection for frontline healthcare and essential workers. They are working on the frontlines to protect us and saving our lives, so if they get sick, they will not be able to work and save lives and there will be a big shortage of frontline providers for hospitals, police departments, EMS, nursing homes and more. 


How will the funds be used?

100% of the funds will go directly to procuring PPE (medical masks, gloves, gowns, face shields and etc.) and supplies for making PPE (3D printed face shields, specialized sewn masks, homemade face shields and masks) to donate.


What have you accomplished so far?

(1) We've identified supply partners and collaborate with other advocacy groups to share supplier resources to help get critical PPE to hospitals, first responders and local/state governments. 

(2) We have built a comprehensive database of US healthcare facilities including major hospitals in the DC area and have donated to 50+ facilities in the Baltimore-DC region especially, and some in CA and NYC.

(3) We have also built a business intelligence tool to aggregate DC, MD and VA regional COVID-19 cases, and generate reports of daily changes of the top 10 counties in the region for prioritizing PPE donation based on urgency and need.

(4) We have already begun distributing PPE  and plan on working with supply partners and donors to scale those donations and purchases.   We are putting 100% of fund raised toward the procurement of PPE for donation. 


Why is the government or hospital systems buying these supplies?

They are trying their best but the medical supply chain is severely disrupted and these supplies are hard to get in a global pandemic.

5/28/2020 Frontline providers are still short of PPE and supplies:
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/05/28/863526524/covid-19-has-killed-close-to-300-u-s-health-care-workers-new-data-from-cdc-shows?fbclid=IwAR3S5fSlZ08htO8WAqDyur3xinaUtGyvkp2rEUYTsKmczZUzEss0VE3grhg


I am an ER/ICU healthcare professional at an NYC hospital that is currently treating COVID-19 patients. We are short on masks. How do we request masks? 

Fill out this quick form: www.americanshelpfightcovid19.org/ppe-requests


Aside from donations, how can we help? 

Feel free to follow us on social media: Facebook @AHFC19, Twitter @AHFC19ORG  or on Instagram @americans_help_fight_covid19  or share our cause with your friends!  

If you are an ER and/or ICU frontline healthcare worker, or a hospital supply administrator, you can e-mail us with a subject headline “Hospital Professional: PPE Requests” at [email redacted] 

If you want to volunteer to help us with your skills, you can e-mail us with a subject headline “PPE Volunteers”. 

If you have a direct relationship with PPE manufacturers that can provide equipment at market costs, you can e-mail us with a subject headline “PPE Equipment Manufacturer”. 

If you are a member of the press or would like to connect us with a member of the press, you can e-mail us with a subject headline “Press Contact” to [email redacted] 

Follow us: 
Facebook: @AHFC19
Twitter: @AHFC19ORG
Instagram: @Americans_Help_Fight_Covid19
Hashtag: #AHFC19 #americanshelpfightcovid19

Please direct your inquiries appropriately to ensure quickest response time: 

- [email redacted] for general inquiries.  
- [email redacted] for media and partnership inquiries 
- [email redacted] for supply inquiries 
- [email redacted] for delivery inquiries 
- [email redacted] for hospital inquiries