Spencer Hospital Appreciates Local Generosity

posted on Tuesday, April 7, 2020 in COVID-19

As in many crisis situations, the first response by many is “How can I help?”

Numerous individuals and businesses have generously responded to the Spencer medical community’s request for supplies, especially personal protective unit.

“While we are experiencing uncertain and challenging times, there is joy in the good deeds and sense of community that has developed in this time of need,” commented Mindy Gress, who is coordinating donated material as part of her role as director of the Spencer Regional Healthcare Foundation.

“To date, the foundation has received hundreds of donated cloth masks from generous individuals across the region to be used by the local medical community,” Gress said. “Additionally, area businesses, farmers and individuals continue to come forward to donate their personal supply of necessary personal protective equipment (PPE) for our co-workers. It is no surprise to me the generosity we have witnessed.”

One such donor was Carolyn Sheridan of Webb who represents the Ag Health and Safety Alliance which donated a variety of supplies, including cases of respirators, filters and other PPE.

“Ag Health and Safety Alliance is an international nonprofit organization that focuses on educating the next generation of agriculture,” Sheridan explained. “With our international programs, we have colleagues in other countries who were impacted by COVID 19 before the United States and we saw that hospitals there were experiencing extreme shortages of PPE. When our programs were postponed or cancelled, we immediately contacted 3M, who we partner with to have PPE available for our students, to consider donating our PPE to healthcare facilities. They readily agreed this would be the best thing to do at this time.”

Locally manufacturing companies, auto supply companies, farmers and agribusinesses, and others have made donations. Rosenboom delivered 5,000 surgical masks last week.

“Because Rosenboom appreciates the regional support and the great people that make up our team, we identified a way to use our resources to support our area healthcare providers and the communities they serve through these donations,” said Tom Eggers, director of sales and marketing. “As we strive to seek other opportunities to support, Rosenboom has been able to donate masks to the Spencer Hospital and to Lakes Regional Healthcare to date. We appreciate everyone’s dedication and sacrifice during this time of uncertainty.”

Spencer Hospital president Bill Bumgarner expressed his gratitude for the care and concern demonstrated by a wide range of individuals and organizations throughout the hospital’s service area.

 “Spencer Hospital appreciates every contribution, and we’re sending note of appreciation to all donors for their kindness. We’ve been asked, ‘How much do you need?’ The projections of the number of people in our region who could be hospitalized changes frequently.  The donation of personal protective equipment is particularly making a real difference.  It’s helping to keep our healthcare team protected in the face of a national supply shortage of N95 respirator masks and isolation gowns.”

Bumgarner said one contribution everyone can make to support the Spencer Hospital healthcare team is to respect the critical importance of social distancing as a way to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in the region.

“Protect yourself, protect your family, protect your community,” he said.  “Please stay home.”