Waterloo Region answers the call to equip hospitals, care homes
WATERLOO REGION — Donations of protective equipment have poured in to local hospitals and care homes since the pandemic started.
They have ranged from people dropping off a single, unopened box of masks, to major companies donating hundreds of thousands of pairs of gloves and 20,000 masks.
“To see the community coming together in so many wonderful ways in support of our hospital is outstanding,” said Lisa Short, the executive director of the Cambridge Memorial Hospital Foundation.
Employers have challenged workers to make cash donations with matching pledges. Google said it would match any employee donation up to $7,500. The owner of a local trailer park offered to match
“I just feel there’s this real sense of community.” ASHLEY ANDREWS GRAND RIVER HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
donations of tenants up to $300, and discount their site fees by the amount of the donation, prompting more than $50,000 in donations. Home Hardware drops off hand sanitizer at the hospitals whenever it gets a new shipment in. Wilfrid Laurier University donated almost 12,000 N95 respirator masks.
It has turned into a real community effort, organizers say, with thousands upon thousands of pieces of personal protective equipment being dropped off every day for local hospitals and long-term-care homes.
Materials that the hospitals don’t need or can’t use will go to clinics, family doctors and others.
The flood began in late March, said Ashley Andrews of the Grand River Hospital Foundation.
“There was a solid month of lots of collecting, lots of people coming forward,” she said. “We had two of us answering emails, calling to make sure we could collect items people were offering to us, working into the weekends.”
The speed with which the pandemic spread caught many by surprise. Supply chains have since stabilized, but hospitals and care homes are still appealing for donations, both because demand is so high and is ongoing, and because the pandemic is still causing disruptions to some sup
plies, said Suzy Araujo, purchasing manager for St. Mary's General Hospital.
“These are unprecedented times,” Araujo said.
And hospitals are going through enormous quantities of protective gear: Grand River Hospital alone uses more than 200 N95 masks every day, and more than 2,250 surgical and procedural masks.
Hospitals have been creative in finding ways to use equipment wisely. For example, donated two-way baby monitors have allowed staff to communicate with infected patients for quick questions, without having to use up another set of protective gear.
On Friday, material was being collected at Westmount Golf & Country Club in Kitchener for long-term-care homes, where there’s an urgent need for personal protective equipment, as well as personal care items like unscented lotion, and electronic items such as tablets to help residents connect with family members. The drive is ongoing, and is a first for care homes, said Steven Harrison, chief executive of Tri-County Mennonite Homes, which runs the Nithview long-term care home in New Hamburg.
“There are 56 long-term-care and retirement homes in Waterloo Region,” Harrison said. “All of us are struggling with the same things, and this is us getting together as a region and saying, ‘Region of Waterloo, this is what we could really use to help us.’ ”
Donate online at regionready.ca The donations are overwhelming, but also inspiring, Andrews said. “I just feel there’s this real sense of community. People are just proud to support the effort locally.”