The OCC Community Answers The Call

During Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's cornavirus-related press conference Friday, March 20 he emphasized how desperately the medical community needed supplies. Less than 24 hours later an Onondaga Community College van filled with medical supplies made a special delivery to the OnCenter in downtown Syracuse. "It's so rewarding to see how quickly our campus community reacted. We put out the call to faculty in our health and science-related majors. Even though they were busy preparing for the start of distance learning next week, they immediately stopped what they were doing and focused on how they could help," said College President Dr. Casey Crabill.

Faculty members in Surgical Technology, Nursing, Biology, and Chemistry made immense contributions to health care workers fighting the pandemic on the front lines including surgical and protective gowns, gloves, masks with shields, paper masks, sterile swabs, hand sanitizer, and ethanol. Onondaga County's Health Department will determine where the need is the greatest and distribute the items. Possible destinations include hospitals, doctors offices, and nursing homes. It's highly likely some of the health care professionals who benefit from the supplies will be OCC alumni.