As hospitals across the country prepare for an increase in COVID-19 cases, Operation Smile is grounded in its mission to help safeguard the health and well-being of our local community and our global community.
Across the country, there has been a shortage of the personal protective equipment that helps to keep health care workers safe from infection. In order to help ease the burden of the shortage, Operation Smile donated 90 gowns and 100 masks to Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital and its related practices on the Eastern Shore.
“So many other hospitals are running low on equipment like gowns and masks,” said Tammy Hedspeth, a Family Nurse Practitioner with Riverside. “Operation Smile’s donation helps to keep our community safe by supplementing our resources of the protective equipment we need when we assess and treat patients. Every barrier we can put in the way of spreading the disease keeps our community safer,” she added.
Other effective barriers to the spread of COVID-19 include social distancing, frequent handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes with a single-use tissue, and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces. Hedspeth expressed that the extra personal protective equipment will allow for the Riverside Eastern Shore community to be better equipped during this pandemic and that Riverside is grateful for Operation Smile’s generous donation.
About Operation Smile: Operation Smile has provided hundreds of thousands of safe surgeries for those born with cleft lip and cleft palate. With more than three decades of expertise, Operation Smile creates solutions that deliver free surgery to people where it’s needed most. As one of the largest medical volunteer-based nonprofits, Operation Smile has mobilized thousands of medical volunteers from a wide range of medical specialties from more than 80 countries. Operation Smile engages public-private partnerships to advance health care delivery, train local medical professionals to provide surgical care for patients in their communities, donate crucial medical equipment and supplies, and increase access to surgical care so that everyone living with cleft is treated. Visit operationsmile.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter. ###
