The Get Us PPE mission resulted in millions of PPE items delivered to those in need
LATEST NEWS
As of July 2, 2021, Get Us PPE has finished allocating remaining donated PPE inventory to facilities and communities in need.
Thank you for helping Get Us PPE! Whether your support of our mission involved making a request for donated PPE, giving money or PPE donations, helping us raise awareness of the U.S. PPE shortage crisis, or actually making PPE for those in need, our team is incredibly grateful to you.
Our Decision to Wind Down Operations
In March 2020, we formed Get Us PPE in response to a crisis.
We did this to address two serious problems. First, we committed to filling a crucial leadership gap by developing a coalition of hundreds of dedicated volunteers who believed in the mission to distribute PPE to those who needed it most. Early in the pandemic, the stockpiles were insufficient. Get Us PPE helped locate donated PPE supply, matched PPE donations with requests and distributed PPE free of charge, utilizing our grassroots organization of physicians, scientists, engineers, technologists, and concerned citizens.
Second, the unwavering, unprecedented and near-instant demand for PPE caught the manufacturing and distribution sectors unprepared. Get Us PPE jumped into action, acquiring PPE from a variety of sources and then distributing it to those who needed it most.
Since, we have delivered more than 14 million+ essential safety items to nurses, doctors, teachers, and other care providers from the Navajo Nation to San Diego, and beyond.
This decision, like all the critical ones we have made, is informed by science, data projections and trends around our numbers of requests. Also with accelerated vaccine distribution, the re-establishment of PPE supply chains, and a more proactive government response, the gaps we targeted with our mission are now being filled.
Get Us PPE has been distinguished from the start by our development and use of technology, including our Fair Distribution Algorithm, utilized to support a core element of our mission which has always been to align available supplies with areas of greatest need. As a result, Get Us PPE’s response went beyond major hospitals to focus on smaller clinics, senior care providers, homeless shelters, schools and other facilities largely excluded from a stressed supply chain.
It’s difficult to imagine that a little over a year ago it would have been challenging to understand how necessary an organization like Get Us PPE would be. However, we are proud to have played an important role in helping healthcare providers and had the opportunity to raise awareness of the PPE crisis during the pandemic. From the beginning, we’ve advocated for the protection of frontline and essential workers at congressional hearings and alongside congressional representatives as we advocated for more robust and transparent data collection around PPE needs
Doing this work has been at different times, heart-breaking, frightening, and also uplifting. The incredible bravery of frontline workers has inspired more than 40,000 donors, hundreds of volunteers, and scores of organizational partners. Collectively, we have insisted upon – and delivered – basic protections for those at the greatest risk.
On behalf of the many frontline workers whom we have helped to protect, we want to thank all of our generous partners for their support throughout this most difficult year. The pandemic has been a tragedy for many people, but at the same time we’ve seen people at their best – helping each other simply because of our common humanity and the greater good. At Get Us PPE we share your optimism and excitement as society moves into post-pandemic life. It has been our honor to help.
Sincerely,
Shikha Gupta, Executive Director
Get Us PPE Board of Advisors
Additional PPE Resources
PPE Requests and Donations
After July 2, 2021 if you still have need for low or no-cost PPE, we encourage you to reference this comprehensive list of PPE resources organized by state.
If you are looking to purchase from a supplier, please visit our partner’s website of verified suppliers by PPE type: www.projectn95.org
It is our hope that the enduring legacy of Get Us PPE will be to make equity a guiding principle of future crisis response systems.
The website www.getusppe.org and our non-identifiable database will remain available for the next three years on standby, ready to resume operations in an emergency, but it will not be active on a day-to-day basis.
Preserving Get Us PPE’s Legacy
Get Us PPE is eager to share our expertise and intellectual assets with other non-profit organizations that are working to improve fairness and equity in the healthcare system. This means that we will offer advice, share our experience and share the technologies and structures we’ve developed that improve health equity. While we will no longer operate as the 200-person organization, we will ensure that our expertise is available to others. To get in touch, contact info@getusppe.org or sign up here if you would like to be notified when our Impact Report becomes available.
Sharing our aggregated, de-identified data
In addition to our real-time Data Dashboard, we invite researchers, policymakers, PPE manufacturers and medical administrators to view and use our publicly available dataset that will include aggregated, de-identified data around PPE requests that we registered via our PPE request form.
Please sign-up here if you would like to be notified when the data set becomes available.
Our History
A simple and compelling hashtag became a movement that quickly grew into the largest national organization serving frontline workers and underserved communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting PPE shortage.
17 million+ pieces of PPE delivered to those in need!
This map displays the amount of PPE donated per state as of June 2021, thanks to the support of volunteers, donors and partners dedicated to helping people through the pandemic.
Our Mission
We got donated PPE to those who needed it most.
Get Us PPE became the largest national organization getting personal protective equipment (PPE such as masks, gloves, and isolation gowns) to frontline workers who needed it most. As a nonprofit, we obtained PPE via donations and makers, then delivered it to under-resourced facilities at no cost to them. Fair and equitable distribution remained vital to our mission.
Get Us PPE was founded by emergency physicians in March 2020 in response to urgent PPE shortages. Within days, our team of 200+ volunteers from across the country came together to help. Our website has logged thousands of PPE requests from all 50 states, and we have delivered millions of units of PPE to nursing homes, hospitals, rural healthcare facilities, small clinics, homeless shelters, and indigenous communities.
As our nation’s PPE shortage evolved, we evolved our organization to also provide for schools, those impacted by natural disasters, and others in the midst of the PPE crisis.
From a hashtag to an editorial to an online petition, see the day-by-day story of how the Get Us PPE movement began in the first few days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Vision
The Get Us PPE mission is driven by a vision where we…
- Believe all people, especially healthcare workers and frontline workers, should have access to the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need.
- Use innovative data technology to prioritize and distribute PPE for those most in danger of contracting and dying from COVID-19.
- Provide PPE at no cost to underserved and under-resourced communities.
- Work with partners here and around the globe to ensure we can source and deliver life-saving PPE.
- Address the PPE shortage with a sense of urgency and equity.
Our Values
Equity
Everyone deserves access to life-saving resources.
Integrity
We strive to always do the right thing.
Compassion
We treat everyone with respect and care.
Community
We work better together.
Innovation
We create data-driven, technology-based solutions.
Adaptability
We are committed to continuous improvement.
Key Initiatives in the Get Us PPE Mission
Leverage a network of partners and volunteers to facilitate efficient delivery of PPE to those in need
