Partner Feature: GetMePPE Chicago
by Tricia Rae Pendergrast, BA
Co-Founder, GetMePPE Chicago
What were you doing before the Covid-19 pandemic hit? I was a first-year medical student at Feinberg School of Medicine. (I still am)
How did you personally get involved in fighting covid-19 in Illinois? I am a co-founder of GetMePPE Chicago. Our goal is to provide personal protective equipment to frontline healthcare professionals, with emphasis on community hospitals and organizations that provide care to vulnerable populations like our community members who are struggling with substance abuse disorders or experiencing homelessness.
What does your organization do? We make, buy, and reclaim personal protective equipment from the community and deliver it, free of charge, to healthcare professionals in need. We frequently conduct needs assessments with our community partners, so we are able to direct donors or other organizations to make the most equitable choices with their resources.
What are some of the barriers you have faced in your work? The price gouging of personal protective equipment is outrageous right now. The only organizations able to source PPE right now are financially stable, larger hospitals with existing ties to suppliers. There is very little help for community health organizations right now. Another challenge is how many people are separately working to address this problem. We work closely with organizations such as MasksforDocs, GetUsPPE, MedSupplyDrive, Boston Scientific, and others to take a unified approach to Illinois' needs.
What are you most proud of? I'm proud of how much myself and the other GetMePPEChi founders have accomplished over the past month. We were all perfect strangers before COVID19 hit but emerged together as national leaders in this crisis. Before April ends, we will have distributed almost 50,000 N95s, 40,000 KN95s, 30,000 Face Shields, among other PPE donations. I think people underestimate us because we are "just" a group of medical students. They underestimate our passion, our teamwork, our leadership skills, and perhaps, most especially, our unity. Unity gives us strength.
Anything else you want to add? Please remember how healthcare professionals were treated in this crisis when it comes time to vote in November.
I would like to thank our collaborators (Boston Scientific, Schlep, BKL Architecture) as well as Dr. Megan Ranney, Dr. Shuhan He, and Dr. Chris Barsotti from GetUsPPE/AFFIRM Research who have been in our corner since the beginning.
Our website: http://bit.ly/GetMePPEchi