Susan LaRocco, Dean of the Mount’s School of Nursing, stands in one of the college’s labs in this file photo. The Mount’s School of Nursing recently donated about 7,000 disposable gloves and other protective equipment to area hospitals and retirement homes.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mount Saint Mary College has donated personal protective equipment (PPE) – including more than 7,000 disposable gloves and hundreds of masks and gowns – to local hospitals, retirement homes, and the temporary hospital at the Javits Center in Manhattan.
Among donations to other facilities in the area, the Mount’s School of Nursing sent about 5,000 disposable gloves to Montefiore St. Luke’s Cornwall in Newburgh, N.Y., 1,500 to Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern, N.Y., and about 500 to Four Winds Hospital in Cross River, N.Y. All of the equipment came from the college’s School of Nursing supplies.
The donations were coordinated by Susan LaRocco, Dean of the Mount’s School of Nursing. LaRocco says she wishes the School of Nursing could have donated more supplies to its clinical partners, but some had already been exhausted though normal use before Mount classes transitioned online.
“We are grateful for all that the nurses and others working in hospitals are doing to care for our community,” said LaRocco.
The Mount maintains clinical relationships with more than 40 area hospitals, giving its Nursing students a chance to work and learn in the field.
The college’s Health Services office also donated PPE supplies, noted Doreen Bischof, FNP, ’17, director of Health Services, this time to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. The Javits Center was recently converted into a 1,200-bed hospital in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently requested that area colleges donate protective equipment to the Javits Center temporary hospital, and the Mount answered the call.
The Mount’s Health Services office donated two large cases of surgical masks and two other large boxes that included N95 masks, disposable gloves, face shields, and impermeable gowns.
“These were items that we already had on hand for daily use,” Bischof explained. “It’s important that these items get to those who need them most. We were more than happy to help.”