Queen’s University has donated thousands of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) items to help protect frontline healthcare workers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Last week a request for PPE supplies was sent out to faculty members and research labs across the university, and received 60 offers of supplies.

The response included more than 900 N95 masks, 600 surgical masks, and 300 gowns as well as approximately 500 face shields, which were not included in the initial callout.

The collected items were delivered to Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC) on Friday.

“The response from the Queen’s community has been fantastic,” says Steven Smith, Vice-Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Vice President, Health Sciences Research, KHSC and President and CEO, KGH Research Institute. “Our local hospitals indicated what PPE they needed most urgently and labs across the university quickly responded to this request. We are fortunate to play a small role in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and protecting our frontline healthcare workers.”

There are several other groups at Queen’s also working hard to help protect healthcare workers, including PPE Kingston, a team of Queen’s medical students who recognized an acute need for PPE in local community clinics and hospitals.

Team members started canvassing local businesses such as construction companies and salons as well as veterinary and dental clinics. Also using social media to reach out to the community

“Slowly but surely we started getting a steady stream of donations coming in through our email (PPEKingston@gmail.com),” says Anna Curry, organizer of PPE Kingston. “We began organizing pick up of supplies, using proper social distancing measures, by our volunteers as well as coordinating drop off by community members at a centralized location. It has been wonderful to see our community come together during this pandemic and donate resources to our frontline workers.”

The group is working with community partners from the Ontario Medical Association to distribute the supplies.

The group recently received a major boost when they accepted a donation of 1,000 N95 masks from a pair of Queen’s alumni – entrepreneur and Dragons’ Den star Michele Romanow and Anatoliy Melnichuk, Head of Sales at Groupon.

Curry says she reached out to Romanow because of her Queen’s connections and she responded with Melnichuk’s contact information. The first shipment of masks arrived on Thursday and were delivered to KHSC on Friday.

You can follow the group’s activities on their Twitter account.

The Gazette previously reported on another group of Queen’s medical students, medical residents, faculty and staff, who are using 3D printers to create PPE items as well as collecting donations.

This article is part of the Queen's Gazette series "Confronting COVID-19".