USC faculty and staff donate gear to protect caregivers during coronavirus crisis
When the plea came for equipment to protect Keck Medicine of USC doctors and other health professionals as they treat victims of the coronavirus pandemic, Andrea Armani had one thought: the lab.
Sitting on shelves in the nanofabrication engineering laboratory she oversees at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering were stacks of safety glasses, face shields and other protective gear. More such equipment sat in another lab at the school. With USC classes now being held online, the equipment would go unused for months.
Armani fired off an email to the school’s dean, Yannis C. Yortsos, seeking permission to donate the supplies to Keck Medicine’s doctors and nurses on the front lines of COVID-19.
“Dean Yortsos emailed back within minutes and said, ‘Make it happen,’” said Armani, who holds the Ray Irani Chair in Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at USC Viterbi.
The engineering school’s donation is only one example of the outpouring of support from across USC. Face masks, eye protection and other safety items are being pulled from all corners of the university to aid health care workers at Keck Medicine.
Physics, chemistry and biology researchers at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences pitched in their supplies. Researchers at USC Dornsife’s Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies found dozens of safety glasses and sent them on the last boat leaving Catalina Island. Hazardous materials and fire safety teams with USC Environmental Health & Safety provided surplus protective equipment and hand sanitizer.
“This is potentially a life-and-death situation related to the equipment that we need,” said Laura Mosqueda, dean of the Keck School of Medicine of USC. “For me to have a group of deans and schools I can reach out to and in 48 hours, get this overwhelming response … is just incredible.
“It’s a really nice demonstration of the Trojan Family.”
Protective gear is critical to addressing the coronavirus crisis
As the new coronavirus spreads across the globe, supplies of protective medical equipment are being strained. At USC’s hospitals and health care facilities, items like face masks and eye protection are crucial to preventing doctors, nurses and other care providers from contracting the virus as they treat a growing influx of patients.
That message spread quickly to researchers across USC Dornsife, resulting in dozens of responses offering help, said Stephen Bradforth, divisional dean for natural sciences and mathematics and professor of chemistry.
USC Dornsife pulled together hundreds of safety goggles from undergraduate labs and donated other supplies that might prove useful.
USC doctor Kenji Inaba, right, and other health care workers unpack protective medical supplies donated from the set of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. (Photo: Kimberly Shemanski.)
“I’m delighted to see how our people responded so quickly on this,” Bradforth said. “People don’t always appreciate in what ways they can help, and when they are asked and find they can, of course they want to jump in and be helpful.”
USC community finds unique ways to protect health professionals
USC experts are also building custom face shields in the Viterbi/Dornsife Machine Shop, with materials and help from personnel in other schools including the USC Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy. The plastic guards are outfitted with 3D-printed head straps created in the shop.
At the USC School of Dramatic Arts, staff members gathered together supplies from campus like sewing machines, elastic thread, fabric and scissors to stitch together protective face masks. They’re doing it all while working remotely.
At the USC Roski School of Art and Design, artists and professors reached out to the broader arts community and received donated materials from across Los Angeles. They also raided the school’s wood shop, ceramics lab and sculpture yard, finding dozens of safety glasses and face shields.
Donations of medical supplies to USC health workers swell following plea for help
USC’s connections throughout the region are also paying dividends. Kenji Inaba, professor of surgery at the Keck School of Medicine, is a surgical adviser to the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy.
Producers at the show heard about the need for protective medical equipment, so they called Inaba to offer sealed gloves, masks and gowns.
“They are not only talented, but some of the nicest folks you will ever meet,” Inaba said. “They use real equipment on the set, and they reached out to see if we needed help.”
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How you can support USC’s health workers
USC health care professionals urgently need donated medical supplies to combat the new coronavirus. Much-needed items include:
- Disposable face masks
- N95 masks, sometimes called respirators
- Eye protection, including face shields and safety goggles
- Disposable gloves, especially nonlatex gloves
- Disposable gowns, surgical caps and foot covers
Keck Medicine of USC’s dedicated coronavirus website includes instructions on how to donate supplies or funds.
For more information, please send an email.