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OLOL gets sizable donation to help healthcare workers

3 years 11 months 2 weeks ago Tuesday, April 07 2020 Apr 7, 2020 April 07, 2020 6:31 PM April 07, 2020 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - Thousands of surgical masks, boxes of gloves, and suits were donated by company WR Grace to Our Lady of the Lake this week.

The company employs about 4,000 people worldwide and has sites in Baton Rouge, Norco and Lake Charles in Louisiana. Locally, the work they are doing helps refineries make gasoline. 

"Our CEO, Hudson La Force out of Columbia, Maryland reached out to us," said Mark Deel, Health and Safety Manager for WR Grace. "We are trying to manage this situation throughout the United States and world. And he knows our situation in Louisiana is different than some of the other places and asked if we could reach out and give donations."

So give they did. Pictures captured the moment that boxes of personal protective equipment were dropped off at Our Lady of the Lake in Baton Rouge. Over the past week, ABC's Nightline has been profiling doctors and nurses inside, showing the rest of the nation what the crisis looks like in Louisiana. 

"We normally have 90 ICU beds," Dr. Catherine O'Neal at OLOL told Nightline. "We are at 100 now. We are at our max ICU capacity on a normal day, and we can flex 20 more but that will be something we haven't seen before."

Courtney Crochet is the Senior Occupational Health Nurse for WR Grace. She saw the situation that was unfolding and was instrumental in making the donations possible.

"With the industry here in Louisiana, it's very important that we provide for the doctors, nurses and community to keep everyone safe and healthy," Crochet said. 

Crochet said the enormity of their donation became even more real as they were showing up. 

"It was a sombering, bittersweet donation," Crochet said. "As we rolled up yesterday, one of the fallen officers from COVID-19 was being loaded. And we saw police doing their salute, and it made it that much more important that we give back to our community."

As the hospital accepted the donations graciously, those responsible for the donations said additional help is on the way. 

"We've given about 3,500 masks, 148 glasses for folks for protective gear, 75 protective suits, and about 60 boxes of exam gloves," Deel said. "We are hoping that will help out. There is also more that will be coming."

OLOL released the following statement:

“We are extremely grateful for the donation of critical PPE that will be used to keep our healthcare heroes safe as they are on the front lines fighting this awful disease. We have received support, supplies and prayers from so many and we will get through this difficult time together.”

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