Coronavirus response: Arcadia hospital preps for influx of COVID-19 patients, issues public plea for protective gear
ARCADIA, Calif. (KABC) -- A hospital in Arcadia is in dire need of help when it comes to treating coronavirus patients.
Methodist Hospital of Southern California is appealing to the public for help.
The first line of defense at the Arcadia medical center amid the coronavirus emergency is an outdoor screening area for COVID-19 before anyone goes inside.
"The staff gets sick and they can't come in to take care of patients, that makes it even doubly challenging," said Cliff Daniels, the facility's chief strategy officer.
Daniels said the Arcadia hospital has already treated two COVID-19 patients, and while foot traffic is low right now the hospital is preparing for an influx.
When that happens, the hospital be in serious need of personal protective equipment, or PPE, for doctors and nurses on the front lines.
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And Daniels knows it's not just a problem at his hospital.
"We are competing with each other to try and get them, there are shortages," Daniel said. "And with shortages the prices have gone up so we are scrambling -- not just to acquire them is a challenge, but also to find reasonable prices for those items as well."
Earlier this week, we told you about a donation drive underway for Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, where people dropped off items likes N95 masks and hand sanitizer.
At Methodist Hospital of Southern California they are asking for donations of unexpired, unused protective gear. This public call for help is already being answered.
"People in the community have brought by boxes of gloves, boxes of masks, albeit they are small quantities," Daniels said. "But the outpouring of generosity of people who have found these things and brought them to us so we can be prepared to take care of the COVID-19 patients has been tremendous."
Small donations, like a box or two of gloves or masks, may be brought to the hospital's front desk.
For large donations, donors may email donateppe@methodisthospital.org.
