Aid groups work to get masks, gowns to health-care workers amid COVID-19 pandemic
Mask-match co-founders Liz Klinger and Chloe Alpert join ‘America’s News HQ.’
Mask-Match.com co-founders Liz Klinger and Chloe Albert joined "America's News HQ" on Saturday to discuss their website and mission to get masks to medical professionals who need them in the battle to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
"My mom's life-long nurse and when I spoke to her a few weeks ago, I found out that she was being forced to work on her floor without a mask," Klinger told co-host Eric Shawn. "And I was terrified that she was going to die, quite frankly. And I learned that she was not the only one experiencing this and that there are tens of thousands of people who are just like her all around the country."
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Klinger then connected with Albert, who works in health care supplies and said there was a two- to three-week delay in getting supplies shipped out.
"And what we realize is that the best source of masks that we could mobilize the fastest were masks that people like you and I had in our homes," Albert said. "[Our website is] where people could sign up to get matched with a health care worker and then they could then ship those masks directly to them without ever leaving their homes."
The women, based in Oakland, Calif., set up donors with health care workers nearby.
"Basically, we send a donor an address to the health care worker near them and the donor can schedule a USPS pickup shipment without having to even leave their homes," Klinger explained.
"So we've set this up so it can be as simple as possible to get masks directly into the hands of the health care workers who are on the frontlines right now."
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The website is focusing on mid-size hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and urgent care facilities.
"We have 273 volunteers doing all this around the clock and so far we've shipped over 63,000 masks to over 1,700 hospitals all around the country," Klinger said. "And we're actually currently processing a 165,000 mass donation right now and distributing it to over 100 health care centers around the U.S. and counting."
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