Med students raise funds for front-line workers’ meals
Gofundme project raises money to feed health-care workers on the front lines
In normal times, Olivier Del Corpo would be spending his days in a hospital making the rounds as a third-year medical student at Mcgill University.
But when the coronavirus pandemic shut down the universities on March 13, Del Corpo and some of his classmates found themselves with time on their hands and a desire to help navigate people through the crisis.
The result is Mercimeals MTL, a Gofundme project to raise money for meals for health-care workers on the front lines.
“There was a group of medical students from the Université de Montréal who started a fundraising effort for personal protective equipment (PPE) and we were looking for something different,” said Del Corpo. “We heard about groups in Vancouver and Toronto that were providing meals for health-care workers and we set up a Gofundme page for a similar project here.
“The response has been great and we met our target in five days,” said Del Corpo. The group has raised more than $25,000 and has been able to expand its operations.
“We started out by concentrating on the units that were focused on COVID -19 cases at the English teaching hospitals and CLSCS, but we’ve expanded to other units and to some French hospitals and non-teaching hospitals.”
The group has established relationships with local restaurants and sponsors such as Dole, Midday Squares and Bassé Nuts.
Del Corpo said he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to resume his studies. “We have a tentative date of May 31, but we don’t know if that’s going to happen,” he said.
3D PRINTERS FILL EQUIPMENT NEEDS
Researchers in the Montreal area have developed a plan to produce medical and non-medical equipment needed to deal with the COVID-19 crisis by linking a hospital’s equipment needs to existing 3D printing infrastructure.
The research team — which draws on the resources of École de technologie supérieure (ETS), the
Centre hospitalier de l’université de Montréal (CHUM) Research Centre, as well as the clinical teams of the CHUM and CIUSSS of Montreal North — creates prototypes and prints equipment and PPE to meet hospital needs until regular suppliers can meet the demand. The goal is to quickly manufacture visors, swabs used to screen for COVID-19, adapters for protective mask filters, respirator connections and protective tents for surgery.
The project team has already enabled the delivery of 1,000 visors to the CHUM nursing staff.
U-HAUL OFFERS HELP WITH FREE STORAGE
U-haul announced Friday it will give 30 days of free self-storage to anyone displaced by residential construction delays in Quebec resulting from the outbreak.
The offer is being made at 16 U-haul-owned storage facilities throughout Quebec. The free month applies to new customers and is based on availability. Get more info at uhaul.com/storage.
HAPPY YAK DONATES MEALS FOR SENIORS
Happy Yak, a producer of highend freeze-dried meals, is donating 200 complete meals in a pouch to the Meals on Wheels program in Cowansville.
The Cowansville company, which has a policy of donating one per cent of its profits to supporting a healthy lifestyle, has changed its focus during the pandemic to help its home community. It will include a free Happy Yak meal in a pouch along with the regular Meals and Wheels delivery. It is also planning to make a further donation of 100 meals to another local initiative.