Atrium Health University City will receive 599 boxes of protective gear, thanks to the concern and urgency of local business leaders.
The hospital is building vital inventory to protect doctors, nurses and other care providers who are on the front lines with patients. With the support of Jane Wu, board member for University City Partners and developer in University City as President of Panorama Holdings, the connections made through University City Partners, leadership of Restore Global and the generosity of partners in China, Atrium Health will receive 50,000 surgical masks, over 10,000 N95 and N98 respirators, 300,000 gloves, 3,000 goggles and 800 full protection coverage suits to help protect their front line staff caring for COVID-19 patients.
When the virus was at peak in China, Jane, originally from China and connected to a business group in the country, reached out to see if she could help the Chinese healthcare team. They were in need of masks and Jane learned about protective gear through her relationship with Bill Leonard, Facility Executive of Atrium Health University City and fellow board member of University City Partners. Working through several connections and logistics partners, Jane sourced masks to share with China and import fees were waived upon arrival.
When things were stabilized in China and the pandemic began to spread across the globe to the U.S., Jane felt compelled to do something for North Carolina and the local community. She circled back to Bill Leonard to inquire about the hospital’s needs. Jane offered to help supply masks to Atrium Health University City. Bill immediately accepted her offer of help. Jane reached out to her Chinese contacts to see if they had any masks remaining. They had some to spare and shipped them back to Charlotte. Jane also reached out to other partners and charities in China to see if they could help to source additional masks and other supplies.
With swift and generous support, Jane has helped raise more than $200,000 to purchase the masks, protective gear and other care supplies. Direct support came from Restore Global, which helped with logistics, shipping and 300,000 gloves.
In addition to supporting Charlotte, Jane is working to identify supplies for hospitals in high impacted states like New York and California. This sort of urgency, innovation and collaboration is exactly what we need in this time and I imagine your readers or viewers would find this of great interest and inspiration.