COVID-19 Update: Good Ways and Bad Ways to Thank Hospital Cleaning Staff

Gift cards are good

Hospital environmental services (EVS) staff are working hard on the frontlines of the pandemic, cleaning and disinfecting to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed.

A first responder nonprofit in Fort Wayne, Indiana—Guns-N-Hoses—purchased more than 700 gift cards from locally owned businesses to distribute to the EVS staff at local hospitals and nursing homes, WPTA-TV reports. This action not only brightened the day for EVS workers, it helped support small businesses, many of which are struggling financially due to the pandemic.

From risking their own health to protect the health of people in their facilities to dealing with personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages, EVS works are facing many challenges but still manage to get the job done. 

Food deliveries are questionable

Many people are choosing to show their appreciation to hospital workers by having food delivered. While everyone appreciates a free mean, health officials with at least one hospital are questioning whether these deliveries are bringing in germs along with food, ECHO reports.

Merseyside hospitals in the United Kingdom say food donations such as pizza and takeout meals can compromise their infection prevention protocols. This week they began asking well-meaning people to stop donating unplanned food deliveries to the hospitals.

Merseyside officials appreciate the thought behind the donations and said hospital staff feels very appreciated.

Can you spare PPE?

GetUsPPE, an all-volunteer group working to get personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks and face shields to healthcare workers during the COVID-19 crisis, is asking any cleaning companies that have extra PPE to consider donating it to local hospitals.

GetUsPPE manages a website with a real-time map which shows the hospitals that need PPE and includes simple drop-off instructions. Anyone with extra PPE is asked to use the website to help them make a PPE donation.

Quarantine cleaning yields treasures

Although chances are good most people don’t have extra PPE, one person stuck at home during the pandemic passed some time cleaning out the basement and discovered a box of face mask respirators, which were donated to a local hospital, The Daily Mail reports. 

The article featured a myriad of treasures that people under shelter at home orders found while cleaning out their homes to pass time, including money they thought they had lost, collections of obsolete cell phones, old newspapers commemorating historical events, large stashes of hand sanitizer, and a Netflix DVD from before the company became a streaming service.