A program created to assist nursing homes with the purchase of much-needed supplies during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic distributed more than 800,000 items, participants said.
The NEPA Nursing Home SOS Program raised over $1 million since it was established in April and has helped more than 30 facilities in Luzerne, Lackawanna, Carbon and Monroe counties, state Sen. John Yudichak, I-Swoyersville, said Wednesday.
Yudichak joined other program participants at The Meadows campus in Dallas Township to provide an update on the progress of the public and private partnership.
The SOS program, short for “Supply Operate Save,” is administered by the AllOne Foundation & Charities, based in Wilkes-Barre. The Pennsylvania Health Care Association and LeadingAge PA, long-term care organizations in Pennsylvania, serve as planning partners.
In a press release, Yudichak said SOS has become a “national model of efficiency in delivering personal protection equipment” and credited AllOne and its chairman John Moses for taking the lead in the effort.
The program distributed 828,825 pieces of PPE, infection control and symptom screening materials, the press release said.
“In early March, leaders in the long-term care industry told us that the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic was Pennsylvania nursing homes, and they sounded the alarm that our nursing home residents and the healthcare heroes who care for them were not getting the resources they needed to combat the virus,” Yudichak said in the press release.
AllOne and Earth Conservancy provided the initial funding of $250,000 each. Luzerne and Lackawanna counties each contributed $250,000 from their Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security or CARES Act funding. The Luzerne Foundation and the Carbon County Community Foundation have joined in to raise additional funding.
John Cosgrove, AllOne’s executive director, said fast action had to be taken when the most vulnerable senior citizens and the staffs caring for them in nursing homes were hard hit.
“The leadership at AllOne Foundation & Charities has been exceptionally clear about our mission from the start. We are to get these resources to where they will do the most good,” Cosgrove said in the press release.
Luzerne County Manager David Pedri and Lackawanna County Commission Jerry Notarianni said the counties were pleased lend their support.
“Northeastern Pennsylvania and Luzerne County always take care of their own and that is evident with the formation and success of the NEPA Nursing Home SOS Program,” Pedri said in the press release.
Notarinni added, “COVID-19 is real and dangerous. Protecting those on the front lines and assisting in caring for the elderly in all of the communities involved speaks volumes for everyone’s commitment to helping our neighbors and all families.”