Special Delivery
HCC donating personal protection equipment
March 27 Update:
U.S. Army soldiers from the 1166th Transportation Company out of Worcester stopped by the HCC Campus Police station yesterday to pick up boxes of personal protection equipment the college is donating for frontline workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. Army Spc. Justin Sargent said the supplies were scheduled to be dropped off at a medical distribution center in Marlborough, Mass., before re-distribution to area hospitals.
Read the March 24 story below:
In response to requests from area hospitals experiencing shortages of supplies, Holyoke Community College is preparing to donate surgical masks, isolation gowns, exam gloves and other personal protection equipment from its health science programs to help frontline medical professionals as they battle conoravirus.
HCC's Emergency Response Team has been coordinating with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency on the collection of supplies from the college's Health Sciences division and its divison of Business & Workforce Development.
Late last week, the Western Mass Economic Development Council sent out a list of personal protection equipment (PPE) that Baystate Medical Center and other area hospitals are "in desperate need of."
"I know we have all been looking for meaningful ways to help out during these stressful times of COVID-19," said the message, which was sent out on behalf of WestMass president and CEO Rick Sullivan. "Our frontline medical professionals and first responderss need our help."
The items HCC has been collecting include boxes of isolation gowns, exam gloves, masks, goggles, hand sanitizer, and microbial wipes from its nursing, radiological technology, veterinary technician, biology, forensic science and certified nursing assistant programs.
HCC police captain Dale Brown spent this afternoon conducting an inventory of the PPE supplies at the Campus Police station. He said he expected that a representative from MEMA would be picking up the items on campus sometime tomorrow (March 24).
PHOTO by CHRIS YURKO: U.S. Army soldiers from the 1166th Transportation Company out of Worcester pick up medical supplies at HCC Thursday, March 26.
