There's many doctors in my family and I kept hearing about the shortage of personal protective equipment from them and also on the news.
Mar 12, 2020I wanted to make masks, and started watching YouTube videos on how to make them, but realized I did not know how to sew nor did I have the necessary equipment. Then I started thinking about what else I could do.
Mar 16, 2020I overheard my Aunt, an ER doctor, asking if she could borrow my mom's swim caps because there was a shortage of headgear. That made me think maybe she could use a shower cap instead, so I asked her if shower caps could be used as PPE, and she said yes. I knew exactly who would have a bunch of shower caps!
Mar 19, 2020Because I travel so much with my family, I remembered that hotel rooms always have shower caps. I made a list of all the hotels in my town, and I asked my mom if she would help me call them for shower caps donations. Not only did I collect a bunch of shower caps, I was able to collect masks and gloves too!
Mar 23, 2020I was so excited to tell my aunt and the hospital that I had collected 3000 units of PPE, but I wanted to collect even more. That same night I saw in the news that the Washington National Cathedral donated 5000 masks to nearby hospitals (https://cathedral.org/press-room/cathedral-to-donate-5000-masks-to-hospitals-to-combat-coronavirus/), and I just knew I could beat that number. I convinced my mom to please please let me keep going even though the shutdown had started.
Mar 26, 2020I kept calling and going to other hotels who had supplies for me, and when I counted again, I had reached 6009 units of PPE (https://abcnews.go.com/US/year-donates-6000-masks-gloves-caps-hotels-hospital/story?id=69948357)! We immediately called the hospital to let them know about the supplies we had collected for them, and they quickly sent a courier to my house to collect everything.
Mar 28, 2020My local community was inspired by what I did, but I could not believe that President Obama heard about what I did and thought I did a good job and then tweeted about my work.
Mar 30, 2020I continue to collect PPE from hotels and provide it to those in need. If you need PPE, please click here for a PPE kit.
Jul 01, 2020