Personal protective equipment is being collected in the Activity Barn at Thompson Park, weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
By Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – Inside the doors of the wooden and naturally-lit Activity Barn in Thompson Park sit piles of boxed exam gloves, antibacterial wipes and other Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), waiting to be picked up and shipped out.
These are the hundreds of items that Monmouth County residents and others have been donating to the county’s COVID-19 effort since the call went out March 25 to provide health care professionals and first responders with proper protective equipment as they battle the outbreak, which brings an unprecedented demand for services.
“Our Monmouth County residents – the best of them comes out during a crisis. We couldn’t be more grateful for people’s generosity, companies’ generosity and everything that our community pulls together,” Freeholder Deputy Director Susan M. Kiley told The Two River Times Tuesday morning.
The donation site, located in the Lincroft section of Middletown, is overseen by the county Office of Emergency Management. At the entrance of Thompson Park off of Newman Springs Road, signage directs drivers to continue down the driveway to the Activity Barn parking lot to make their donations. Once they pull in, they enter a path of lined bright orange traffic cones and are greeted from a distance by a park ranger stationed at the site.
Items are then unloaded from the car while maintaining social distance and are placed inside the barn by the ranger until they are delivered to Monmouth County area professionals on Fridays.
Donations are currently being accepted weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Requested items include nitrile examination gloves, surgical or N95 masks, protective gowns, protective face shields, multifunction no-contact infrared thermometers, hand sanitizer and antibacterial wipes.
According to Freeholder Director Thomas A. Arnone, many individuals have made donations. Among local organizations that donated PPE are Two River Theater of Red Bank, MOESC of Tinton Falls, T&M Associates of Middletown, Nvidia Corporation of Holmdel, Ferguson Dental Care of Fair Haven, Lotus Health & Aesthetics Spa of Red Bank, Red Bank Borough schools, Kenneth Grossman, M.D. of Little Silver, Rumson-Fair Haven High School and the Monmouth County Vocational School District.
Many others have donated as well, some outside of Monmouth County, including AAA of Hamilton, Olga Rozin D.D.S. of Jamesburg Family Dentistry in Jamesburg and Steven Puma D.D.S. of Fords and more, Arnone added. They are grateful to all who have donated.
While these companies and individuals have donated supplies, others are donating their time. According to Arnone, the county reached out to its residents seeking volunteer nurses to help work the county call center, open to answer questions and direct calls related to COVID-19. And since then, 26 volunteers have stepped up from the various Monmouth County school districts, he said. Others looking to volunteer can call the COVID-19 hotline at 732-845-2070 or email MonmouthCOVID19@visitmonmouth.com.
The freeholders said they would announce an initiative April 2 to assist restaurants.
As of Wednesday, April 1, there were 1,307 positive COVID-19 cases in Monmouth County. In the Two River area, that includes eight in Atlantic Highlands, 23 in Colts Neck, 13 in Fair Haven, six in Highlands, 49 in Holmdel, 17 in Little Silver, 127 in Middletown, four in Monmouth Beach, 14 in Oceanport, 27 in Red Bank, 17 in Rumson, two in Sea Bright, 15 in Shrewsbury Borough and 24 in Tinton Falls.
This article originally appeared in the April 2nd, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
