Rochester Doctors Need Masks

Right now, Rochester’s emergency medicine departments at the University of Rochester Medical Center and Rochester Regional Health need our help as much as we need theirs. Rochester’s emergency medical professionals are in dire need of new, unworn N95 masks, face shields, hand sanitizer, protective eyewear, latex-free medical gloves, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE). This crucial equipment will keep them safe today, tomorrow and the coming weeks and months as they combat coronavirus COVID-19.

When we take care of Rochester’s doctors, Rochester’s doctors can take care of us.

You cannot give money or time to this appeal. The deepest wallets in Rochester cannot buy that which is unavailable. Only donations of personal protective equipment can keep our community’s doctors and nurses safe as they confront coronavirus COVID-19. Our community is counting on the thin white line of brave medical professionals who are putting themselves between us and a disease with no known cure.

Rochester’s emergency room doctors and nurses need:

• N95 Medical Masks

• Traditional Surgical Earloop Medical Masks

• Face Shields

• Protective Eyewear

• Latex-Free Gloves

• Gowns

• Other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

• Hand Sanitizer

If you have these needed supplies, or know someone who does, please donate them to the University of Rochester Strong Memorial Hospital Emergency Care or Rochester Regional Health B. Thomas Golisano Emergency Center where they can be distributed to where the need is greatest.

To date, 70 new N95 masks have been donated. That’s 55 protected doctors and patients. Thank you, Rochester.

What Can You Do?

Donate Masks and Supplies

If you purchased medical masks, N95 medical masks, hand sanitizer, latex-free gloves, face sheilds or other much needed personal protective equipment (PPE) in the past few weeks and are not exhibiting symptoms, please consider donating these to Rochester’s emergency medicine departments.

Contact Others

Talk to friends and family. Ask coworkers if they have new N95 masks they can live without. Send e-mails. Skype. Facetime. Whatever. If you are a patient, customer, employee, hobbyist or know a business owner that uses N95 masks or other personal protective equipment, but may not need currently need them during the shutdown, please reach out and ask for a donation. Here are some businesses you can contact that may not currently be using their personal protective equipment:

• Dentists

• Orthodontists

• Science or Research Labs

• Veterinarians

• Tattoo Artists

• Home Remodeling Contractors

• Construction Companies

• Wood Workers

• Nail Salons

Ask if their business has an alternate means of ordering medical masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE). A new supply chain may get N95 masks to Rochester a little sooner.

Use Your Social Reach

Do you or your company have a large social network? Now is the time to leverage it and put it to work. Ask your followers to donate new, unworn N95 masks on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Tumblr, TikTok—whatever you have. You can ask if the businesses listed above who may have this equipment, but are not using it due to the shutdown would consider donating as well.

Right now, Insomniac Studios is posting on Instagram. If you find or collect a new, unworn N95 mask to donate, take a photo and share it with your social networks. We’re using #saverocsdocs and #askformasks.

If you would like to use the graphics Insomniac Studios developed for this campaign, we will make those available in the coming days.

Instagram Post Images

Instagram Save Roc’s Docs logo yellow, 1080 x 1080
Instagram Save Roc’s Docs logo pink, 1080 x 1080

Facebook Post Images

Facebook Save Roc’s Docs logo yellow, 1200 x 630
Facebook Save Roc’s Docs logo pink, 1200 x 630

Twitter Post Images

Twitter Save Roc’s Docs logo yellow, 1200 x 675
Twitter Save Roc’s Docs logo pink, 1200 x 675

Look in Your House

A quick search of Insomniac Studios’ basement yielded two packages of N95 masks. They were purchased years ago for a remodel and are perfectly good to keep Rochester’s emergency doctors safe from coronavirus COVID-19. Please note the N95 rating highlighted in yellow on the front of each box. This same rating appears on the medical masks Rochester’s emergency rooms use to keep doctors, staff and patients safe. Look in your basement, attic, garage, tool shed or workbench for N95-rated masks and donate them to the University of Rochester and Rochester Regional Health’s emergency room doctors.

Social Distance and Donations

Donations can be made at Rochester’s emergency departments. Contact information and addresses are listed below. The University of Rochester Medical Center has 26,000 employees and Rochester Regional Health employs 7,500 people. Chances are, there is someone in your family or someone you know who works for one of these organizations. They may be able to get your donation to the hospital’s emergency department.

Remember, new N95 masks do not have to come to Insomniac Studios first. It is more important they go to Rochester’s emergency rooms.

If you have new, unworn N95 masks and wish to maintain your social distance, consider leaving your donation in a mailbox or on a porch. Many restaurants are organizing car trunk pick-ups, where orders are placed in a customer’s truck to maintain a safe social distance. This may be an option.

Emergency Rooms are for Emergencies

Right now, Rochester’s emergency resources are stretched very thin. Going to the emergency room with a minor medical issue is like calling 911 to chat—you are tying up a valuable, life-saving service and preventing the people in our community who need emergency medical services from getting it. Make an appointment with your primary care physician or visit one of the many urgent care facilities in our community.

N95 Mask Donations in the News

At about the 1:10 mark of a Wednesday, March 18, interview with the Democrat and Chronicle, University of Rochester Medical Center Chair Michael Kamali, M.D., made an appeal to the Rochester community for N95 masks and other personal protective equipment.

Thank You

If you, your company, a business or organization you contacted donates even one new N95 mask to Rochester’s emergency room professionals, Insomniac Studios would like to list you or your company name here. Right now, this small recognition and our gratitude is all we can offer. Thank you.

Four Points Remodeling and Design Center
Insomniac Studios
Glenn and Beth L.
Lucia Family Dentistry
Tom and Elaine N.
Jeff and Ellen N.
Jason and Sarah W.

Resources

University of Rochester Strong Emergency Department
601 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, NY 14642
585-275-4551

Rochester General Hospital Emergency Room
1425 Portland Avenue
Rochester, NY 14621
585-922-2000

Contact Insomniac Studios

You can contact Insomniac Studios with any questions you may have, but really, the most important thing you can do is get supplies to Rochester’s emergency departments in this time of need. Thank you.