Yesterday, the Verona Rescue Squad, Verona Police Department, and Verona Fire Department put out an urgent call for supplies so that they could continue to safely respond to emergencies during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19. Today, Verona’s public schools drove over 1,000 masks, 9,300 pairs of gloves and hundreds of pairs of protective eyewear.
“We asked the team to raid every single closet and inventory them,” says Superintendent Dr. Rui Dionisio. District personnel looked at what was held by school nursing offices, science and STEM classes and the Verona High School wood shop. “I was impressed that we had so much,” Dionisio said.
The school district held back a little of what it had in case there was a need, but gave the rest to the police and Verona’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM). “With this, OEM can protect out first responders,” Dionisio added.
Verona’s first responders are seeking donations of:
- Nitrile medical-grade gloves (non-latex)
- N-95 Respirator masks for police and EMS to wear on calls for assistance
- Surgical masks for our patients so that we can prevent exposure to our staff and hospital personnel (We cannot take hand-sewn masks due to the close quarters we are in with patients in ambulances)
- Safety glasses (even construction goggles would be helpful) for crews entering homes and treating patients
- Cleaning wipes (gold-top and purple-top medical-grade PDI SaniCloth are ideal, but household wipes like Lysol and Clorox are great) in order to decontaminate equipment, ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks
- Boot/shoe covers (like “booties” that realtors use for open houses) for crews entering homes with suspected COVID-19 cases and decontaminating ambulances
- Lysol aerosol spray cans in order to disinfect as COVID-19 lives for several hours in the air
- Surgical face shields (like those used in dental offices) in order to protect from droplets
- Charcoal-filter respirators (commonly used for construction, etc.) for personnel who cannot find a seal with an N-95 respirator during testing
The public can drop off donations in the bin in the police department lobby, which is open 24 hours a day. (600 Bloomfield Avenue). If you can’t drop off, the Verona Police will pick up your donations at your homes or offices. Please email [email protected] with your address, intended contribution, and a date/time they will be available. You may leave on your front steps or driveway.
