ROMEO, Mich. – In these unprecedented times, Metro Detroit hospitals find themselves in the position of bracing for the worst without enough basic supplies during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis.
Nurses are spending off hours trying to ferret out the basics needed to do their jobs. The community is coming together to try to help hospitals.
The pleas have been public from nearly ever major hospital group.
Beaumont Health is asking for medical supplies that include new or unused disposable face masks -- N-95s, also known as respirators -- face shields and safety goggles.
University of Michigan Medicine is reminding people that going to donate critically needed gear is an acceptable reason to leave your home under Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s stay-at-home order.
Henry Ford Health System is opening up its shipping and receiving docks at five locations for drop-offs.
Requests from nurses are creative and passionate because they’re in the middle of the shortage.
Paula Tutman spoke with a nurse, Kim, who is treating patients with the COVID-19 strain of the coronavirus. She is in the thick of it, and she said the scariest part is that the patients must be alone, and she is often their only contact.
As a nurse for two different hospitals, she has taken it one step further. Her husband built wooden donation boxes and placed them in front of a coffee shop in Downtown Romeo.
So far, any of the nurses Local 4 has spoken to said they are doing OK in terms of basic supplies, but they don’t know how long that will last. So they’re asking for new, unused, wrapped medical supplies such as masks and gowns, or even cash donations so if they find the supplies, they can purchase them.
They said the time to stock up is before they actually need to items, and that time isn’t far away.