National Park Medical Center donates over 1,000 face masks
National Park Medical Center donated over 1,000 cloth face masks to local first responders and other community organizations on Thursday, as a way to “pay it forward” for all of the personal protective equipment donated to their facility by the community since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We hope that this donation will help our community stay safe and protect themselves and others on the job and when out and about in our community,” NPMC CEO Scott Smith said in a news release.
The hospital donated masks to National Park College’s health science students and faculty, the Garland County Sheriff’s Office, Hot Springs Fire Department, Hot Springs Police Department and LifeNet EMS.
“These organizations have been valued partners for us in a number of ways through the pandemic and for many years,” Smith said in the release. “An essential part of our mission is to provide a safe place of care and help ensure a healthier community for us all. We are honored to provide these masks for some of our fellow citizens who are also working hard to make our community a better place.
“From training generations of nurses and other health care workers, to keeping our communities safe, these partners are meaningful to us and tie directly back to our mission of Making Communities Healthier by supporting healthy actions to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Throughout the pandemic, the release says, NPMC has received numerous donations of face masks and other personal protective equipment from community partners and neighbors.
“We are incredibly grateful for those donations,” Smith said. “We are proud to be able to ‘pay it forward’ with this special mask donation which, importantly, does not in any way impact our supply of masks/ other necessary PPE we have on hand for our providers, employees and clinical staff.”
Smith told The Sentinel-Record they are “very pleased” with the comfort and quality of the masks being donated.
“Many who have received them comment on how cool, soft and comfortable they feel,” Smith said. “They also have a
convenient pocket for inserting a filter. They’re great for those necessary trips to the grocery store or other times that are difficult to practice effective social distancing.”
He said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s research and data reflects that wearing a mask helps prevent a person who is sick from spreading the virus to others by keeping respiratory droplets contained and from reaching other people.
“To prevent getting sick,” Smith said, “we should continue taking additional daily precautions including avoiding close contact with people who are sick, cleaning hands often; avoiding touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands; and frequently clean and disinfect surfaces.
“Over the course of the pandemic, we’ve learned that COVID-19 affects different people in many different ways. Some individuals with the virus may exhibit very mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, while others may become very ill. So in order to keep our neighbors and community safe, it’s imperative that we wear a mask while in close contact with others.”