Medical workers across the country are in dire need of personal protective equipment (PPE) to ensure continuity of care for the mounting number of COVID-19 patients. The scholarly publishing community can help to ameliorate this shortage by distributing the information below to the millions of non-medical professionals that they serve:

Critical PPE items such as facemasks, goggles, gloves, and protective gowns are stockpiled in offices and facilities that have been closed due to the pandemic: from labs in universities and corporations, to machine shops, cleanrooms, and engineering and construction job sites.

The website GetUsPPE.org is coordinating the transfer of unused PPE from private organizations to the healthcare facilities requesting them in the same vicinity.

GetUsPPE.org is a grassroots organization led by emergency medicine physicians, working to give all PPE proceeds to the frontline healthcare workers most in need.

“We’re asking everyone in the scholarly publishing community to get the word out about GetUsPPE.org,” said Marty Picco, General Manager of Atypon. “The basic equipment that is essential to protecting our frontline providers can be found in unconventional places, and our industry’s collective reach has the potential to uncover unused PPEs in storage closets, classrooms, and supply rooms across the country that can be redirected tomorrow to save the lives of healthcare workers and their patients.”

GetUsPPE.org needs:

Surgical masks

Goggles

Face shields

Nitrile gloves

Isolation gowns

Disinfectant wipes

Hand sanitizer

Scrubs

Disposable shoe covers

Nasopharyngeal swabs

Respirators

Atypon has no association or affiliation with the GetUsPPE website or organization