A Kelowna family physician is concerned about the lack of availability of personal protective equipment (PPE) for her fellow health-care workers working the front-lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Dr. Janneme Frouws has closed her own practice to in-person visits, but asked for donations of masks, gloves and goggles for her health-care colleagues who she says are facing a “critical” shortage of protective gear.
“I have recognized the need for PPE donations based on personal reports of almost 19,000 Canadian physicians on a Canada Covid-19 Facebook page, being distressed about the lack of PPE available,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“The need for organizing donations from the public has also been confirmed by friend who is a KGH hospitalist.”
While a sizeable donation from China will see 100,000 units of PPE come in from China, Frouws said that donation doesn’t even make a dent as far as the need goes.
“The estimate is that we will need at least 200 million units of PPE over the next 6 months,” she said. “Yes you read that right, 200 million. That is 2 thousand times more than this donation.”
UBC Okanagan has offered its assistance, Frouws said, to help to liaise, store and distribute donated supplies to Interior Health.
You can donate any equipment you may have at maskaherobc.ca.
UPDATE
Some people are reassured by the donation Canada is receiving from China. To put this in context – China is…
Posted by Janneme Frouws on Friday, March 27, 2020
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