Lending Support to Howard County

To help area health care providers, the Health Sciences Division and the Science, Engineering, and Technology Division donated more than 30,000 pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) to the Howard County Office of Emergency Management (OEM).

OEM and the Howard County Health Department distributed the equipment, including protective N95 face masks, gloves, gowns, shoe covers and transport ventilators, to Howard County General Hospital, area senior care facilities and a local dialysis center.

The PPE came from nursing, dental hygiene, surgical technology, medical laboratory technician and emergency medical technician program supplies, as well as the biology lab.

“Our equipment is lying dormant since our classes have been moved online,” said Georgene Butler, dean of the Health Sciences Division and professor in the nursing program. “While we’re not in session, the best place for this equipment to be is with the people who need it the most.”

Howard County government put out a call for donations, and HCC faculty and staff jumped at the opportunity to help.

 “It was a collective effort,” Butler said. “All of our program chairs wanted to step up and do their part.”

These donations are just one example of HCC’s ongoing commitment and dedication to residents’ health, said Shelly Bilello, programs administrator and the college’s liaison to Howard County government’s COVID-19 taskforce.

“Even in times of crisis, they continue to teach and lead by example, demonstrating what it takes to be successful in the health sciences field,” Bilello said. “Emergencies have a way of bringing out the best in people. What better way to serve as ambassadors and leaders in our local communities then to donate items in times of need.”

HCC donated the following PPE and cleaning supplies to Howard County:

• 28,900 nitrile gloves
• 2,450 masks
• 6 boxes of semi-N95 and N95 masks
• 140 N95 masks
• 250 goggles
• 1,008 procedure masks
• 750 isolation gowns
• 113 disposable lab coats
• 24 surgical gowns
• 200 shoe covers
• 100 bouffant caps
• 31 five-gallon bottles of liquid hand soap
• 40 containers of Clorox bleach wipes
• 2,900 alcohol wipes
• 4 five-gallon bottles of bleach
• 3 unused Sharps containers
• 500 biohazard bags
• 2 transport ventilators