San Diego and Tijuana native supplies front line with masks

TIJUANA, MEXICO — Baja California’s front-line workers against the coronavirus, who most need masks and other personal protection equipment, are likely getting to know Jose Luis Ascolani.

Through his global emergency mask initiative, the nonprofit he founded last month named GEMINI, Ascolani has been able to raise more than $3,000 to donate gloves, goggles, face shields and N95 masks to medical workers, police and paramedics.

“They’re scared,” said Ascolani, 24. “They’re some of the bravest people I’ve ever met. If they’re doing this every day, knowing they could die, the least we could do is help them.”

Ascolani, a graduate of San Francisco State University, has been locating the protective equipment wherever he can, sometimes driving up to two hours away to buy the supplies and then eight to 10 hours a day to deliver them across Tijuana.

Individuals and businesses, such as Indigo Dragon in Encinitas, are helping fund the project through his Go Fund Me page where he’s documenting his daily activity.

“Individual medical workers aren’t getting the support they need from their government,” said Ascolani, who was born in San Diego, but grew up in Tijuana, playing soccer there. “Doctors are paying out-ofpocket, some as much as 18,000 pesos — the equivalent of $741 in the U.S. (for personal protection equipment.) Others are waiting nine hours in line to purchase N95 masks from local suppliers.”

The lack of protective equipment in Tijuana and across Mexico has not only pushed health care providers nearly to their breaking point, it’s also been the driving factor in several outbreaks. At least 24 hospital staff at Tijuana’s Clinica 20 fell ill from the virus, several critically.

Ascolani is part of a growing movement of Tijuana and San Diego residents stepping forward to raise funds and gather donations for the beleaguered medical staffs.

The key to cross-border efforts is coordinating among the different donors and hospitals, said Anne McEnany, president and CEO of the National Citybased International Community Foundation.

“We want to make sure that philanthropy is filling gaps that government is not covering, as opposed to trying to do everything,” McEnany said recently.

A coalition of people, charities and private companies recently donated 92 hospital beds to a temporary hospital located inside Tijuana’s Zonkey’s basketball stadium. The owners of the stadium donated the space.

“COVID-19 is a binational issue between sister cities,” said Ascolani, who said resolving it would require cooperation on both sides.

‘Doctors are paying out-of-pocket, some as much as 18,000 pesos — the equivalent of $741 in the U.S. (for personal protection equipment.) Others are waiting nine hours in line to purchase N95 masks from local suppliers.’ Jose Luis Ascolani on helping front-line workers

WENDY FRY / SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE GEMINI founder Jose Luis Ascolani delivers personal protection equipment like masks and coveralls to doctors at IMSS-20, a federal public hospital in Tijuana designated to treat coronavirus patients.