Seneca steps up in fight against COVID-19 by donating equipment and supplies to hospitals

Toronto, March 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seneca students and employees answered the call to help local hospitals by donating more than nine hundred kilograms of essential supplies to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The medical equipment and supplies included ventilators, surgical gowns, N95 respirator masks and mask fit tester, hand sanitizers and other cleaning supplies. It was distributed to three GTA hospitals ? Southlake Regional Health Centre, North York General and Markham Stouffville Hospital.

The donation was in response to appeals by the Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario regarding the urgent need for personal protective equipment and supplies for frontline health care workers.

"We have this equipment in our programs, so it was basically, ?we have the stuff, let's step up,'" said Prof. Tania Killian with the School of Nursing, who was instrumental in organizing Seneca's first donation that went to Southlake Hospital. "Whenever we can support each other, we do, and Canadians are really good at stepping up."

The equipment and supplies donated are used for training students on campus in Seneca's programs in Nursing, Animal Health, Biological Sciences and Applied Chemistry, Fire Protection Engineering Technology and Environmental and Civil Engineering Technology. With classes now online in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a window of opportunity to deliver the items to hospitals where they can be put to much-needed use.

More information about the donation is available here.