Toronto college donates much-needed medical supplies to local hospitals

As government officials and hospitals in Ontario continue to warn of a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplies, one Toronto college is stepping up to the plate and donating to local hospitals. 

Seneca College announced today that they donated more than 900 kg of essential supplies to three GTA hospitals — Southlake Regional Health Centre, North York General and Markham Stouffville Hospital —to help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among the supplies given to healthcare workers in need are ventilators, surgical gowns, N95 respirator masks and mask fit testers, hand sanitizers and other cleaning supplies. 

#SenecaProud to answer PM @JustinTrudeau's call with our recent medical supplies donation to @Southlake_News

The ~2,000 lbs of supplies included:

- 2 ventilators
- 30 cases of surgical masks
- 40 canisters of cleaning wipes
- 100 cases of gloves
- N95 & O2 masks#PlanktheCurve https://t.co/BraT5runLl pic.twitter.com/QaQvN7mRb4

— Seneca College (@SenecaCollege) March 25, 2020

In a news release, Seneca said the donations were made in response to appeals by the Ontario Medical Association and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario about the urgent need for more PPE and medical supplies. 

The donated equipment is typically used by students in nursing, animal health, biological sciences and applied chemistry, fire protection engineering technology and environmental and civil engineering technology.

But since in-person classes have been suspended due to the pandemic, the equipment would otherwise go unused. 

"We have this equipment in our programs, so it was basically, 'we have the stuff, let’s step up,'" said Tania Killian, a professor with the School of Nursing who was instrumental in organizing Seneca’s first donation that went to Southlake Hospital, in a statement. 

"Whenever we can support each other, we do, and Canadians are really good at stepping up."