Checking a Meitheal load
By Irish Echo Staff
The Irish American Meitheal campaign aimed at securing Personal Protective Equipment for health care workers in the greater New York area is continuing its work into a second week, this given the enormously positive response it received in its first days of operation.
Said a statement from organizers: On Easter Weekend, The Meitheal, Irish America in Support of Healthcare workers had its most demanding yet most rewarding day since this relief mission started two weeks ago. We want to share a message of sincere thanks to our Community for donating PPE, donating funds, volunteering time and helping spread the word. We certainly are #Strongertogether
On Good Friday, the New York Irish Center in Queens and the Aisling Irish Center in Yonkers opened their doors for the second time to safely receive PPE donations from construction companies, business owners, families and individuals, adding to the already phenomenal amount of PPE we received on week #1.
Thanks to the incredible support and generosity of the Irish American Community, the Meitheal made our largest delivery of PPE to date on Saturday April 11, directly to the Hospitals we identified across New York City, directly to frontline healthcare workers.
On Saturday, some of the Meitheal team made up of; Brian McCabe, Dr. Jim McLaughlin, Owen Rodgers and Dan Dennehy made collections at the Aisling Irish Center and the Padded Wagon storage in Manhattan (via the New York Irish Center) and got to work.
In Queens, Brian and Jim distributed to Elmhurst General Hospital, one of the earliest and hardest hit Hospitals:
10,000 gloves
100 Tyvek suits
100 N95 masks
2 large cases of disinfectant cleaning supplies
They were gratefully received by Anthony Jarzembowski, representing the hospital administration.
In Brooklyn, Brian and Jim distributed to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center:
10,000 gloves
100 Tyvek suits
120 N95 masks
200 Antiseptic wipes
Case of disinfectant cleaning supplies
They were gratefully received on behalf of Nursing Supervisor Nandalall by Officer Cevales.
Dan and Owen evenly distributed to St Barnabas Hospital and St John’s Riverside:
20000 gloves
50 liters Santizer
640 N95 Masks
33 Cases Disinfectant & Bleach
6 cases of san & aerosol Lysol
20 Tyvec Suit
Gracefully received by Don Hester and his team at St. Barnabas, and Chief Nurse Tara Curtin at St. John’s with Nurses Dawn & Kerry.
We have a number of people to thank but none more than the team at the Aisling Irish Center, the team at the New York Irish Center, Mike Cremin & Christopher Roche from Emerald Dry Cleaning as well as Charlie, Manny and Owen at the the Padded Wagon for their support in collecting, transporting and delivering PPE.
Grateful and all, it is still very much Pedal to the Meitheal for our team and for our Mission. We will continue to collect PPE, we will continue to encourage donations to our GoFundMe, and we must continue to help protect and support our Healthcare Heroes and Frontline Staff.
Please stay tuned for our upcoming PPE Donation drop off locations and schedule, and please continue to spread the word and most importantly, stay safe!
Contact us: themeitheal@gmail.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheMeitheal/
