San Luis Obispo County ships excess medical supplies to Ukraine
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. - Medical supplies purchased to prepare for a surge in hospitalizations that were not needed in San Luis Obispo County will be used to help those recovering from war in Ukraine.
Emergency Medical Services Director Vince Pierucci told News Channel 12 San Luis Obispo County is sending to Ukraine:
- 100,000+ medical gloves
- 1000+ MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat)
- 300 medical scrubs
- Other miscellaneous medical items
The County is partnering with Meathead Movers to package and deliver the supplies to the Port of Los Angeles where they will then be shipped to Ukraine.
At the start of the pandemic in March of 2020, the SLO County Public Health Department bought over 100 thousand medical items it was prepared to use in the Alternate Care Site. The multi-million dollar set-up on the campus of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was never needed, with hospitals being able to handle the number of COVID patients that came in.
"They have expiration dates," Pierucci said of the medical supplies. "So either we need to use them or they end up in the landfill, and that's the last thing we want is to pollute our environment and not use these items that were purchased to help people. So we felt this was a great opportunity to help out Ukrainians."
