St. Petersburg College donates stockpile of PPE to Bay Area medical centers

St. Petersburg College is helping medical professionals in their fight against the novel coronavirus by providing much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE).

Dr. Lara Cavanaugh was glad to see Deanna Stentiford and Amy Krueger at the Children's Medical Center in Palm Harbor as they delivered medical supplies to the clinic from St. Petersburg College.

"We had one mask per physician for the last three weeks," said Dr. Cavanaugh. "Now we have lots. Now we have gowns, this is awesome."

The school is closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic so the college’s Health Education Center donated its stockpile of PPE to the children's hospital.

SPC Dental Hygiene Academic Chair Amy Krueger explained, "We said, 'Let's empty our stock closet and our supplies and go and donate them to somebody that can put them to good use.'"

The college has donated more than 26,000 masks and other supplies to Bay Area hospitals and clinics.

"They're in dire need of protection for them and protection for other patients. So cross-contamination is a real thing. Protection of our healthcare workers, that's a real thing, so we are doing anything that we can to help out," said SPC acting provost Deanna Stentiford. "Our respiratory care has inventory some of their ventilators and they have done some loaning to hospitals... Our 3-D printers are going strong in our orthotics and prosthetics division to make some face shields and everybody kind of jumping in an being a team."

The whole college is working to help medical personnel stay safe; a community coming together to help keep one another safe in a time of crisis.

If you feel sick:

The Florida Department of Health has opened a COVID-19 Call Center at 1-866-779-6121. Agents will answer questions around the clock. Questions may also be emailed to covid-19@flhealth.gov. Email responses will be sent during call center hours.

LINK: Florida's COVID-19 website

CORONAVIRUS IN FLORIDA: What you need to know

AROUND THE WORLD: CoronavirusNOW.com

Map of known COVID-19 cases:

MOBILE APP USERS: Click here for map