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.
3/12/2020I 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.
3/16/2020I 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!
3/19/2020Because 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!
3/23/2020I 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.
3/26/2020I 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.
3/28/2020My 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.
3/30/2020I continue to collect PPE from hotels and provide it to those in need. If you need PPE, please click here for a PPE kit.
7/1/2020