Coronavirus

Coronavirus News: Long Island construction company donates over 15,000 N95 masks and plans to buy more

Thursday, March 26, 2020

Coronavirus News: Long Island construction company donates over 15-thousand N95 masks and plans to buy more

When Long Island's East End Group saw there was a shortage of N95 face masks, they decided to purchase over 15-thousand to donate to medical staffers on the front lines for free.

YAPHANK, New York (WABC) -- As the COVID-19 virus continues to spread across the country, medical supplies are becoming harder to come by, specifically the N95 face mask. These masks are essential for health care workers and treating those that are affected by the virus.

Once the Long Island East End Group found a supplier, they knew they wanted to purchase as many as they could to donate to local hospitals and health organizations in need.

"People are blown away when they see them, you would think I'm handing over someone the winning lottery ticket or something," said managing partner, Ryan Dempsey. "We saw there was a shortage and everyone was looking for these masks and a supplier reached out and said he had 50,000 of them."

The East End Group posted a picture of the boxes of masks on their Facebook page and soon their notifications were flooded of messages of need from all across Long Island.

"We drove a total of two hours and I drove back to the emergency department and I dispersed them to frontline providers," said ER nurse, Michelle Mezzoiuso. "Their simple act of kindness could've potentially helped us protect themselves to the maximum capacity because our N95's are running incredibly low and we are in such dire need of them."

As long as the company can purchase N95 masks, they don't plan on stopping anytime soon. They have already donated over 15,000 and will continue to order until their supplier has no more to sell.

"They've been working extremely long shifts, just for someone reaching out and saying we appreciate you is a big gesture to them," said Dempsey.

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