How to donate medical supplies

Bay Area hospitals — which are running low on masks, gowns, face shields and other protective equipment needed by health care workers to safely treat coronavirus patients — are starting to accept donations from manufacturers, companies and the public.

Valley Medical Center Foundation, which raises funds for the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s three hospitals and 11 clinics in the South Bay, began soliciting donations Tuesday and has gotten one major contribution from IBM of 15,000 surgical masks and another from a local import company of 40,000 pairs of gloves, said the foundation’s chief operating officer, Michael Elliott.

Individuals have dropped off masks they had at home from the large fires two years ago, bringing in a couple dozen at a time, Elliott said. Painters and construction companies have also donated their stash.

“People want to help,” he said. “We started getting calls from people and it became clear to us this is something we should do so we can be as prepared as we possibly can be so at the end of this we’re not saying to ourselves, ‘If only we’d done that, it could’ve made a bit of difference.’ ”

The need for protective gear at hospitals is dire. Some hospitals have only enough supplies for the next two to three weeks, and a surge of COVID19 patients is expected in the coming weeks.

Nurses have been instructed to reuse masks by disinfecting them with alcohol or Lysol in between uses, which makes them less effective. Doctors are preparing to have to make their own masks from Tshirts and pillowcases.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s official guidelines say that as a last resort, health care workers could use bandannas and scarves — a guidance that angered many physicians asking why the federal government has not moved faster to increase manufacturing, as is done during wartime and after natural disasters.

Experts emphasize that the best thing the public can do to help health care workers is to stay home and not hoard medical supplies. If you do have extra supplies that are unused, here is where you can donate them: Valley Medical Center Foundation: 2400 Clove Drive, San Jose. For a list of items being accepted, go to the foundation’s website, www.vmcfoundation. org. Donations are accepted Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Weekend hours are still being established; call 4088855299 or email vmcfoundation@ hhs.sccgov.org.

Supplies will be distributed to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center hospital and clinics, St. Louise Hospital and O’Connor Hospital. Stanford Medicine: If you have donations of medical supplies from a verifiable vendor source and in bulk quantities, or have questions, contact covid19supplies@stanford healthcare.org. UCSF said Saturday it was not accepting public donations yet, but would announce information about where to donate soon. Berkeley hospitals: Berkeley City Council member Rashi Kesarwani is coordinating donations for city hospitals and arranging for supplies to be picked up from the homes of Berkeley residents. Contact her office at 5109817110 or rkesarwani@ cityofberkeley.info, or visit rashi kesarwani.com/covid19 to fill out a donation form and arrange a pickup.

Catherine Ho is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cho@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Cat_Ho