Thames Valley school board donates masks, gowns, gloves to front-line workers

The Thames Valley District School Board has donated much-needed personal protective equipment to hospitals and health centres in the region to help front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school board has delivered the items to hospitals in London, Woodstock, Tillsonburg and Ingersoll, as well as a family health centre in St. Thomas, officials said.

The donation includes almost 18,000 disposable gloves, hundreds of disposable gowns, as well as hundreds of masks and filters.

The items are usually used by custodial staff.

"We are truly grateful for the personal protection equipment donation from the Thames Valley District School Board during these difficult times," said John MacFarlane, president andCEO of the London Health Sciences Foundation.

"This donation directly supports our hospital and our front-line healthcare professionals to ultimately ensure they stay safe and healthy during the fight against COVID-19."

The donations went to the London Health Sciences Centre, Woodstock General Hospital, Tillsonburg District Memorial Hospital, Alexandra Hospital in Ingersoll and Windemere Family Medical Centre in St. Thomas.

"We collected and donated these items fromour schools andcustodial supplies, supporting the need locally, responding torequests for help from these health centres," said Chris Yeo, the school board's facilityservices manager.