CORONAVIRUS

Central Mass. schools donate medical supplies to hospitals

Elaine Thompson,Scott O'Connell
elaine.thompson@telegram.com
Personal protective equipment gathered from laboratories at Worcester Polytechnic Institute is being donated for medical use. The donation includes 1,000 N95 face masks, 2,000 surgical masks and 80,000 gloves, part of which is shown here Monday. [T&G Staff/Rick Cinclair]

With campuses empty of students, local vocational-technical high schools and colleges are stepping up in the fight against COVID-19 by donating masks, gloves and other critically needed supplies to help those working on the front lines at local medical facilities.

Faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute as of Monday morning had collected around 35,000 nitrile gloves, nearly 2,000 surgical masks, and about 100 of the especially valuable N95 respirators for donation. Glenn Gaudette, a biomedical engineering professor at the university, said they hoped to gather even more supplies later Monday.

“We’ve cleared out not only our closet, but our colleagues’ closets,” he said. “Most faculty here at WPI have decided to pause their wet lab research. We won’t be needing any supplies for the next month or so.”

Even if they did, he said, researchers at the university appreciate the urgent need for protective wear at local hospitals.

Gaudette and his colleagues were organizing donations on campus to be picked up by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, which will distribute the supplies around the state.

“I know other colleges are doing the same thing,” he said, adding that the effort at WPI began over the weekend, when news outlets reported shortages of protective masks at hospitals across the country. “Hopefully a lot more people will contribute to the effort.”

Karen Hunter, spokeswoman at Quinsigamond Community College, said staff have been gathering supplies from the Practical Nursing, Nurse Education, Surgical Technology, Medical Assisting, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Respiratory Therapy and Radiology Technology classes and labs in the college’s Center for Healthcare and Workforce Development, 25 Federal St., Worcester.

She said QCC has donated or will donate N95 masks, surgical masks, disposable gloves and gowns to UMass Medical School in Worcester, Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, Salmon Health and Retirement, operator of senior facilities in the region, and Knollwood Nursing Home in Worcester.

Dr. Alastair Cribb, dean of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in Grafton, said the school sent all four of its mechanical ventilators to Tufts Medical Center. Oxygen tanks are being distributed to regional hospitals. He said the veterinary school is prepared to donate more supplies and equipment, such as specialized kidney dialysis equipment.

The school's clinics and hospitals "have moved to providing only essential and emergency care for pets, horses, and farm animals. This has been done to conserve medical supplies at a time when they are in great need for human health, while still allowing us to provide necessary care for our patients,” Dr. Cribb said via email Monday. “We are taking additional steps, such as switching where possible to the use of hand-sewn cloth masks, to further reduce our usage.”

Campus police at Clark University in Worcester donated about 12 boxes of gloves and a box of N95 masks on Sunday to UMass Memorial Medical Center - University Campus.

John Hill, spokesman at Holy Cross, said a member of the faculty is leading a campuswide inventory of medical supplies to determine how the college can help.

“Once we complete our inventory and compare against the needs of our own emergency personnel, including our on-campus medical staff and first responders, we will be organizing the distribution of these supplies to local hospitals,” Hill said.

Becker College was also assessing on-campus supplies Monday and will donate supplies to UMass Memorial Medical Center.

Amy Dean, Becker spokeswoman, said the supplies will come from the college’s School of Animal Studies and Natural Sciences, the School of Nursing and Health Sciences, and the crime scene lab.

Worcester State University does not have any personal protective equipment to donate. But the school is one of the sites being considered to house the possible overflow of patients amid the coronavirus crisis, said spokeswoman Maureen Stokes. She said city officials and medical professionals toured the college to see if it is viable.

“It is something that is being talked about. We don’t have anything that’s concrete,” she said.

Vocational-technical school programs such as dental assisting, nursing, electrical and carpentry also use personal protective equipment. Many of the schools in the region have gathered supplies and sent them to hospitals.

Erin M. Nosek, superintendent of Tantasqua Regional & Union 61 School Districts, said staff collected personal protective equipment from the health careers and carpentry programs, as well as from some school nurse offices. They will be donated Tuesday to Harrington Hospital in Southbridge. Nosek said the donations include gloves, masks and isolation gowns, as well as a few boxes of hand sanitizer and some disinfecting wipes and sprays.

Michael F. Fitzpatrick, superintendent-director of Blackstone Valley Technical Regional School District in Upton, said the high school was well stocked with cleaning and medical supplies.

“With school closed, the district wanted to ensure that these essential items are available to the medical staff and health care providers at Milford Regional Medical Center in Milford, who are on the front line caring for those in the Blackstone Valley,” Fitzpatrick said.

Anthony E. Steele II, Valley Tech's assistant superintendent-director/principal, said the effort is also a good lesson for students.

“Coming together to care for our community by donating what we can during challenging times such as these is the kind of example we want to set for our students,” he said in a statement online. These are extraordinary times. We are in this together, and we will prevail together.”

The items donated by Valley Tech included 35,400 gloves, 500 ear loop masks, 350 RSN810 masks, 550 wipes, 75 N95 masks, 48 disposable cover-ups, 28 goggles, and 24 face shields.

Ed Kelly, president & CEO of the Milford hospital, said the generosity of individuals and companies  has been amazing.

“In regards to Blackstone Valley Technical High School, we were overwhelmed by their donation,” Kelly said. “I can’t thank everyone enough for their willingness to join us in the battle to defeat this virus.”

Sheila M. Harrity, superintendent at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, said staff donated an array of personal protective equipment to local medical facilities Saturday.

She said the team of 10, led by Principal Tom Browne and Director of Vocational Programs James Hachey, delivered masks, respirators, gowns, safety glasses, goggles, gloves and disinfecting supplies to Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Athol Hospital and the Fitchburg Board of Health.

“I could not be prouder of our educational community. We are truly grateful to all health care providers on the front line and thankful that we were able to provide some relief as they work so hard to care for those in need,” Harrity said. “I have to tell you, it felt so good being able to do something for our community. It was the least we could do for our professionals working in the medical field.”

Leominster High School’s Center for Technical Education donated supplies from its health occupation vocation program. The items included approximately 60 N95 respirators, 150 isolation gowns, 1,100 medical face masks, and approximately 5,000 vinyl medical gloves. The supplies were donated to UMass Memorial-Health Alliance Hospital in Leominster.

“Thanks to everyone’s effort, we were able to donate the ... supplies to protect our health care workers right here in Leominster,” Principal Dan Bachant said on Facebook.

Christopher P. Hendry, spokesman for UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital, said the personal protective equipment will be shared by the health care facility’s three campuses.

“We are very appreciative of the quick community response to the urgent need for personal protective equipment. We are especially appreciative of the generous donation from Leominster High School and the Center for Technical Education Innovation for PPE that will be shared across our three campuses (Clinton, Leominster and Fitchburg) and our Urgent Care facility in Leominster to help keep caregivers and patients safe,” Hendry said.

Dr. Michael P. Hirsh, medical director of Worcester’s Divsion of Public Health and a member of the city’s emergency management team dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, was pleased to hear of the outpouring of generosity and help from the high schools and colleges. He said the team had just collected personal protective equipment from Anna Maria College in Worcester.

“I think it’s wonderful,” Hirsh said. “This is all hands on deck. We just really all need to be working together. Since those places unfortunately are idle now, we need to provide as much to our first responders and front liners that we can.”

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City of Worcester info

Mass. Dept. of Public Health info

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