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Coronavirus News: Bike company donates e-bikes and thousands of masks to Queens hospital

Friday, April 24, 2020

Bike company donates e-bikes and masks to NYC hospital

Kemberly Richardson has more on a company that makes bicycles for a living who is now making a huge donation to a hospital in Queens.

ELMHURST, Queens (WABC) -- A company that makes bicycles for a living is now making a huge donation to a hospital in Queens.

The Founder and CEO of Aventon Bicycles, JW Zhang, decided to give back to the community during this coronavirus crisis by donating a pair of e-bikes and more than 7,000 surgical and N95 masks to Elmhurst Hospital.

Zhang, who started Aventon while in college, sells more e-bikes in New York City than any place else on the East Coast.

The CEO says during this hard time, kindness and sharing is more important than the medicine.

The Director of the ER at Elmhurst Hospital, Dr. Stuart Kessler, checked out the special delivery with his team and believe that the staff could use the bikes to commute or be used on the hospital grounds.

"If we need to get someone moving from one area to another, they have some baskets on the bicycles, and so you can move equipment back and forth," Kessler said.

The doctor says this is all happening at a pivotal time.

For the first time in weeks, the emergency department has quieted down and the volume of patients presenting COVID-19 symptoms have decreased substantially.

However, the doctor says that a lot of other patients are starting to come back, including people with other ailments such as heart attacks and strokes that the ER didn't see during the past six to eight weeks.

Kessler says that the ICU is still filled with critically ill patients, but says this pause has given his dedicated staff a chance to take a deep breath and digest all that has happened.

The doctor says it was very difficult but also a very proud moment at the same time.