Miami U. donates protective gear to area health care facilities

Most of the items were sent to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, UC Health, the Butler County Board of Health, Mercy Health-Fairfield and the Atrium Medical Center.

Rick Page, associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry, led a department wide collection of supplies from research labs and teaching labs. The department donated more than 125,000 gloves and 750 goggles to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and UC Health.

The Miami University police department donated items including 10 boxes of gloves and 196 N95 respirators.

Dennis Tobin, associate professor of art, said Miami’s ceramics studio commonly uses N95 respirators as they mix their own clay and glazes from raw materials. He donated 120 N95 respirators to Oxford’s McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital/TriHealth.

Mercy Health and Atrium Medical Center contacted Miami University Regionals about the availability of PPE to spare, said Cathy Bishop-Clark, Regionals Dean. Laboratory coordinators collected supplies, and Perry Richardson, senior director of media and community relations, delivered a car full of items to each facility.

The Regionals also collected cleaning and sanitizing supplies (wipes, paper towels, tissues) to donate to the Hamilton police department.

Jeff Johnson, director of environmental health and safety, collected items from the animal care facility and departments across the Oxford campus, including biology, kinesiology and health, psychology and chemical, paper and biomedical engineering.

“We had about four full pickup truck loads of materials,” Johnson said. He and University Fire Marshall Rick Dusha picked up the items which were then centrally stored by Robin Parker, general counsel for Miami, until they were donated.

Jim Oris, vice president for research and innovation, helped coordinate the collection of PPE. He extended his thanks to everyone involved with this effort. “I am proud to work for a place like this. The campus is beautiful, but the people make it special,” he said.

A list provided by Oris’ office for additional items donated includes: