A group of nurses who are unable to work inside of hospitals due to health concerns is finding a way to help those on the front lines of the pandemic.
These nurses have launched an effort called “Scrubs in the Outfield” and the organization is centered around securing critical supplies and delivering them to those who need it most.
“When there’s a need you wanna be there and do all you can to help out,” Madison Collopy who is a nurse at Dana Farber said
Collopy has been sidelined because she suffers from medical issues that could put her at a higher risk should she contract coronavirus.
But, this has not stopped her and many others from helping their colleagues through this tough time.
“There was a whole bunch of people that said ‘Yeah, I’m in the same boat, I’ve had these same feelings and I wanna do whatever I can to help,” she said.
Out-of-work nurses, retired nurses, and a number of others have joined together online to make helpful videos for the public and to put the call out to active nurses to see what they may need.
“Somebody had said, ‘We need scrub caps,” Collopy said. “We started getting on top of that.”
So far, the group has received more than a thousand shower caps including hundreds from Boston’s Intercontinental and Park Plaza Hotels.
“In today’s world, we’re unfortunately having to get creative because we don’t have the accessibility to all of those supplies that we do need right now,” she explained.
Collopy has been collecting protective masks from family members and strangers online who want to help — even a fly fishing company in Newburyburt is getting in on the charitable action.
All these supplies are being delivered to the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which then distributes them to hospitals in need.
Collopy said “Scrubs in the Outfield” is a way for nurses who cannot be on the front lines to answer the call and help those who are.
“This is a crazy situation that I don’t think anyone could have foreseen, and I think the only way we’re gonna be able to get past it is by coming together and helping each other out,” she said.
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