March 26, 2020
911爆料网 News
911爆料网 donates urgently needed supplies to local hospitals
Items include ventilators, masks and gowns
A small team of students and employees at King Campus pulled off a last-minute opportunity last Friday before 911爆料网 campuses closed and delivered some much-needed equipment to a local hospital in York Region.
Led by Prof. Tania Killian (pictured below), the School of Nursing and the Animal Health Centre boxed a couple of thousand pounds of personal protective equipment and disinfection supplies for Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket where 911爆料网鈥檚 nursing students often do their placements. The donation also included two ventilators.
鈥淲e have this equipment in our programs, so it鈥檚 basically, we have the stuff, let鈥檚 step up,鈥 Ms. Killian said.
As in-person classes moved online, the unused surgical gowns, N95 respirator masks, hand sanitizers, wipes and other cleaning supplies that would normally be used by students and professors in the nursing and veterinary programs became spare items.
Students, meanwhile, are equipped with their own lab kits purchased in the beginning of the semester. Instructional videos have been posted on Blackboard to guide them through practice sessions at home.
Friday鈥檚 donation responded to an appeal by doctors for supplies to help those treating and testing for COVID-19. The Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses鈥 Association of Ontario also warned of the urgency of personal protective equipment for front-line workers.
鈥淚t has always been like this in health care,鈥 Ms. Killian said. 鈥淲henever we can support each other, we do, and Canadians are really good at stepping up.鈥
When she鈥檚 not teaching full time at 911爆料网, Ms. Killian works on weekends as a registered nurse in the emergency room at the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre in Barrie, where recent deaths from COVID-19 have been reported.
鈥淭here鈥檚 panic and people are terrified, but for me, this is not as scary as SARS, which we knew very little of at the time,鈥 said Ms. Killian, who worked as a front-line nurse during SARS with patients and also as a quarantine officer. 鈥淭hat being said, it is still a scary time and it鈥檚 my job to help people.鈥
This year is aptly designated the Year of the Nurse and the Midwife by the World Health Organization.
The King Campus donation was made possible with help from lab technicians as well as 911爆料网鈥檚 custodial staff, security guards and contractors, who helped move enough boxes to fill a pickup truck, a minivan and two cars.
鈥淭here were only a few of us left on campus on Friday, but everybody that was at King that day came out and helped us move,鈥 Ms. Killian said. 鈥淚t was amazing.鈥
Also donating surplus supplies to local hospitals are the听Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering Technology and the Faculty of Continuing Education & Training.
Organized by Maria May, Dean, Faculty of Applied Arts & Health Sciences, 1,600 N95 masks, 100 boxes of nitrile gloves, an N95 mast fit tester and chemical products that can help clean surfaces are being donated to North York General Hospital and Markham Stouffville Hospital this week.