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Advocacy

Jul 24 2020
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Black Lives Matter protesters wearing protective masks, PPE for Black Lives Fund

Racism is a Public Health Crisis: Black and Latino Americans Hit Hardest by COVID-19

By Advocacy

By Sarah Lee  Deep-rooted racial inequities and the structural impacts of white supremacy have led to widespread health disparities between racial and ethnic groups in the United States. Especially during public health emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic, institutional racism leaves minority populations more susceptible to viruses and the diseases they cause.  Although early studies identified the elderly and the immunocompromised at greatest risk from COVID-19, researchers are now redirecting their focus to population-level risk factors. Race has been found to be as influential—if not more—as age in determining the likelihood of developing a severe form of illness and leading to…

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Jul 08 2020
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Phone Banking Initiative to Update the Get Us PPE Demand Database

By Advocacy, PPE Insights

By Emma Swidler, a Team Leader for the Phone Banking Initiative and a blog contributor at GetUsPPE.org. By late April, many states were eagerly preparing to reopen. But frontline workers knew that the nation was nowhere close to a state of safety. Amed Family Clinic in Nashville, Tennessee was one of many healthcare facilities within the US that had rapidly dwindling PPE supplies. Staff and doctors were using rain ponchos as gowns, and the number of cases at the clinic were rising.  As more facilities faced the same bleak reality, Dr. Megan Ranney and Dr. Shuhan He, Co-Founders of GetUsPPE,…

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Jun 29 2020
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Black Lives Matter protesters wearing protective masks, PPE for Black Lives Fund

The PPE for Black Lives Fund

By Advocacy, PPE Insights

In June, over 46,900 units of PPE were distributed by GetUsPPE affiliates to Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters in cities including Los Angeles, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Chicago, New York, New Haven, Chicago, Portland, and Washington D.C. The PPE being made and delivered to protesters is supported by our PPE for Black Lives Fund, which we recently launched to fundraise for this vital area of work. The fund supports PPE going to protesters, and any additional funding for protective equipment left over if and when protesters no longer need it will be directed toward healthcare and essential workers in Black communities….

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Jun 23 2020
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Getting PPE to those on the front lines of the fight against racism

By Advocacy, Stories From the Frontlines

By Grace Jin, a blog contributor at GetUsPPE.org. As a public health initiative founded on principles of safety, GetUsPPE stands in solidarity with the thousands of people marching for Black lives across the United States. To help protect the protesters taking to the streets during the COVID-19 pandemic, our network of affiliates have mobilized to distribute over 46,900 masks and other PPE to community-led organizations and Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstrators, as well as medical-grade supplies to street medics assisting injured protesters.  We asked some of our coalition members about their efforts to distribute PPE, why direct action is important,…

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Jun 13 2020
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The Double Pandemic: Protecting Protesters From Covid-19 and Police Brutality

By Advocacy, Communities in Need of PPE

By Grace Jin, a blog contributor at GetUsPPE.org. GetUsPPE formed out of a fundamental conviction that when lives are put at risk, we all need to step up. That’s why we’ve rallied together to coordinate donations and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) to healthcare workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis. That’s also why we stand in support of protests against police violence and structural racism, set off by the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and other Black Americans. As the pandemic continues, cloth masks are an essential piece of PPE for those taking to…

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May 28 2020
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HEROES Act Week of Action GetUsPPE

HEROES ACT: Week of Action 

By Advocacy

By: Varsha Venkatakrishna and Lauren Kerr GetUsPPE, alongside a coalition of labor and organizing partners, is hosting a HEROES ACT: Week of Action to urge the Senate to pass the HEROES Act (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act). The bill is comprehensive, covering medical supply chains, employees and families, and vulnerable groups. It aims to mitigate the economic and public health effects of future stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Passing the HEROES Act will be critical in mitigating the effects of future outbreaks, particularly as states begin reopening. In its current format, the act will: Scale the national…

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May 25 2020
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Get Us PPE’s Dr. Megan Ranney Testifies at Congressional Briefing to Protect Frontline and Essential Workers

By Advocacy, PPE Insights, Stories From the Frontlines

By Alison Mosier-Mills, a blog contributor at GetUsPPE.org. On Thursday, May 21, GetUsPPE’s Dr. Megan Ranney testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus. She discussed the impact of the crisis on medical staff and first responders, highlighting the urgent need for protective gear and proposing a path toward a sustainable and equitable supply chain. These priorities will be essential to providing high-quality care to Covid-19 patients while also ensuring the well-being of the frontline workers who treat them.  Across the country, hospitals have been overwhelmed by the volume of patients requiring intensive treatment for Covid-19—and many frontline healthcare workers…

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May 14 2020
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“Like building a boat while you’re on the ocean in a storm”: A conversation with Jo Overton of Protect Native Elders

By Advocacy, Communities in Need of PPE, Interviews, PPE Insights

Interviewed and edited by Erika Lynn-Green and Daniel Packard This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity  On the origins of Protect Native Elders          My name is Jo Overton. I am an enrolled tribal member of, what the federal government calls, the Rosebud Sioux. However, we call ourselves the Sicangu Lakota. My family continues to live on the reservation. I live in Utah. [Protect Native Elders] all started with a conversation that I had with a friend, Andi. I’m pretty sure she’s the one who introduced me to Tyrone Whitehorse. Tyrone and I were talking about doing masks….

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Mar 27 2020
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#GetUsPPE Announces Perspective Piece in the New England Journal of Medicine on Medical Equipment Shortage Crisis Due to Covid-19

https://prn.to/39qvzuB
Mar 26 2020
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Other Important COVID-19 Projects

By Advocacy

There are a lot of people working to bend the curve, support healthcare workers, find the best treatment and overall fight this pandemic. The following is a list of other projects you may be interested in following or contributing to. Data State responses and outcome reporting Medical Provider Information Sharing Medical Provider-only, anonymous (if you want) chat group (Slack + ID.me sponsored) Call For Ideas, conservation of PPE via JAMA Mental Health NAMI guide on mental health during this pandemic Medical Resources Fair Allocation of Scarce Medical Resources (NEJM), Ethics

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