Marion Tech Donates Personal Protective Equipment to Marion County EMA

(Marion) In response to the need for personal protective equipment (PPE), Marion Technical College donated more than 26,900 gloves as wells as cases of face shields, lab coats, gowns and masks to the Marion County Emergency Management Agency (EMA).

Disinfectant and hand sanitizer were also provided.

“Marion Technical College has been part of the community for almost 50 years, and has always endeavored to serve educational and training needs of our community. This donation is just another way we strive to support our community, particularly those on the front line of this pandemic, who are working to keep us safe and help us recover,” said Dr. Ryan McCall, president of MTC. “We are all in this together, and I want to thank Laura Smith, Professor of Medical Sciences and Clinical Coordinator for our Medical Laboratory Tech program for coordinating this effort on behalf of the college.”

(above: Laura Smith)

Laura Smith teaches students how to use personal protective equipment (PPE) so they can safely perform tests in medical labs.

“Since classes were going online, we would not need all that PPE so I sent an email to Ryan. He got in touch with the right people and then things just evolved,” Smith said.

Smith coordinated with other departments who teach medical field fields to collect the items. Donations came from medical assisting, nursing, physical therapist assisting, radiography, diagnostic medical sonography, and the biology department. Once the items were collected, McCall, Smith, and her husband, Ned, loaded up her van with the supplies and took it to the Marion County Emergency Management Agency drop-off point. They had to remove some of the van’s seats to make room for all of the boxes.

(Boxes of the donations are stacked in Laura Smith’s van)

“We have the most amazing partners! Thanks to Marion Tech…and all of the amazing people who have donated PPE supplies this week! Special thanks to the Marion Township Fire Department and the Ohio State Highway Patrol for helping us load and unload boxes.” said Sarah McNamee, Director of the Marion County EMA. “Keep those donations coming! Big or small, we need them all!”

(Members of the Ohio Highway Patrol and the Marion Township Fire Department helped unload the donations)

The Ohio Department of Health encourages anyone who would like to make a donation to call ahead to coordinate the delivery. The Marion County EMA can be reached at 740-223-4142.

“We appreciate what our first responders and health care workers are doing. We want them to be as safe as possible,” McCall said. “Many of our graduates are working in health care and at local law enforcement agencies. Our thoughts are with them.”

Learn more about MTC’s COVID response here: https://www.mtc.edu/covid-19/