EAST GREENWICH – Care New England has provided students from the New England Institute of Technology a site to learn more about the medical field and further pursue opportunities in the health care field. Now, the school known as “The Technical College” is aiding the local health care organization in order to address a critical need for the local hospitals.
On Tuesday, NEIT will be delivering more than 800 pieces of medical wear to Care New England to be distributed across the organization’s hospitals for medical staff battling against the COVID-19 pandemic. The school is donating 340 surgical and isolation gowns, 300 sets of powder-free surgical gloves and 200 surgical facemasks that would normally be used by students in controlled classes.
Over the last few weeks during the pandemic – which saw Rhode Island, as of Monday, have more than 400 confirmed cases of the virus and four deaths – Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has called upon various sectors to help hospitals out by providing medical supplies in order to minimize the spread.
“I think Care New England was looking to better prepare themselves understanding with the COVID-19, the numbers were going to escalate and have more influx of patients,” said Darlene Noret, NEIT’s director of nursing/interim assistant provost of health sciences. “So, it’s a matter of preparedness to try to keep their supplies from getting critical.”
NEIT Vice President for Corporate Education and Training Steven H. Kitchin also told Providence Business News that the current pandemic is a “challenging time” for both the state and the country, and the school could not “turn a deaf ear” to Care New England’s request.
“They were so good with us in terms of providing those places for our students to learn in a clinical environment,” Kitchin said. “This was a request that we took to heart and it also gave us an opportunity to fulfill what we feel is our institutional mission to continue to be a valued participant in the community.”
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James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
