By Jon King/jking@whmi.com


A local hospital system is reaching out to the public for help in securing needed supplies during the COVID-19 outbreak, while Livingston County’s voice in Congress is also urging constituents to pitch in.

The St. Joseph Mercy Health System posted a request for assistance on their Facebook page with a list of supplies that they will be accepting as donations from the public. Among the needed items are air-purifying respirators, regular masks, N95 masks, face shields, gowns, hot glue sticks, nasal testing swabs, hand sanitizer and Lysol or Clorox wipes. A complete list is below.

Donations of the needed items will be accepted between 8am and 4pm daily at the Main Entrance to St. Joseph Mercy Livingston Hospital 620 Byron Road in Howell and at St. Joe's Ann Arbor (Towsley Health Building, Catherine’s House Dress for Success entrance)- 5361 McAuley Dr., Ypsilanti.

St. Mary Mercy Livonia, St. Joe's Oakland and St. Joe's Chelsea are working to also set up Donation Centers. More information will be shared for those locations when available.

Here is the list of needed items;

• PAPRs or Powered, Air-Purifying Respirator
• Regular Masks
• N95 Masks
• Face shields
• Gowns
• Hot Glue Sticks
• Surgical Caps/Protective Caps
• Eyeglass shields/goggles
• Nasal Testing Swabs
• M4 Viral Media
• Lysol or Clorox Wipes
• Hand Sanitizer
• Transparency Sheets

On Sunday, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin also issued a call for assistance to fill a gap in federal action and donate gloves, masks, gowns and other protective equipment and supplies to hospitals coping with COVID-19, as she continued to advocate for use of the Defense Production Act to speed supplies to front-line health care providers.

“We’ve been getting hundreds and hundreds of calls from our health care workers, from our first responders, about the shortages of personal protective equipment,” Slotkin said in a video posted on her Facebook page,. Slotkin says in the video that Michigan has received an initial shipment of stockpiled supplies from the federal government, that more is unlikely to come soon from federal supplies, and that the president has “put that responsibility in the hands of the states.”



While Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s administration has a team of specialists seeking supplies wherever they can find them, Slotkin says, that will take time. Praising 8th District research universities like Michigan State University and Oakland University, dentists and others for already making their own supplies available, Slotkin in the video calls on all 8th District residents to consider donating any available supplies to local hospitals. “Our community is literally at its best in times of crisis,” Slotkin says in the video, asking dental facilities, nail and hair salons, tattoo parlors and any other businesses or individuals with stocks on hand to make any donations they can to district hospitals.

Slotkin made her plea after a weekend of discussions with Gov. Whitmer’s office, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) officials, 8th District hospital officials and individual health care workers who are deeply concerned about their ability to safely care for patients.

Slotkin, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a former senior Pentagon official, has called for President Trump to use his authority under the Defense Production Act, which would allow the federal government to place orders for vital equipment, organize distribution to ensure supplies go where they are most needed, and ensure that the prices of in-demand goods are not inflated. The president has discussed using that authority, but Slotkin says he has so far not taken any action to place orders under this authority.

Slotkin issued the following written statement about the need to act to mobilize supplies to Michigan communities:

“Times of crisis call for acts of clear and decisive leadership, and I had hoped the administration would use its Defense Production Act authority more aggressively to organize procurement and distribution of these vital supplies. So far that has not happened, and the Administration should take action now to place orders on those materials we need most. Michigan has received its initial allocation of supplies from the national strategic stockpile and we are unlikely to receive more soon. Gov. Whitmer has organized a team that is scouring the globe for available supplies, but that will take time. And it falls to our community to fill that gap. In a time of crisis, I know the people of the 8th District will do whatever they can for our first-responders and front-line health care workers.”

In addition to the supplies requested by St. Joseph Mercy in Howell, Slotkin also asked for donations to other 8th District hospitals, including;

SPARROW HOSPITAL, LANSING

Needs:

Disposable face masks
N95 masks, including 3D printed
Eye protection including face shields and safety goggles
Disposable gowns
Disposable non-latex gloves
Surgical caps
Disposable foot covers
Bleach
Bleach or anti-microbial sanitizing wipes
Hand sanitizer
PAPRs (Power air purifying respirators) and PAPR hoods
Nasal flock swabs
Ventilator parts, including ventilator heaters, probes, wires, and disposable adapters
Fisher & Payal MR850 wires and heaters
Hand-sewn reusable masks

How to donate: Starting Monday, Sparrow will accept needed supplies at the north entrance of Eastern High School, 220 N. Pennsylvania Ave., Lansing.

ASCENSION PROVIDENCE ROCHESTER HOSPITAL

The hospital is in need of supplies and is working to arrange details of how residents can donate.