Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital Receives Ventilator

Mending Kids Takes Action to Fight Against COVID-19 and Donates Ventilator to Award-Winning Safety-Net Hospital

LOS ANGELES - April 10, 2020 - PRLog -- Once again, the nonprofit organization, Mending Kids has stepped up to the plate to help fight against the COVID-19 crisis, this time, by donating its Newport Medical (Medtronic) HT70 Plus portable ventilator to Martin Luther King, Jr Community Hospital (MLKCH), in Willowbrook, CA. The ventilator was delivered to the hospital on Friday, April 10th at 11:30 a.m.

The 131-bed hospital, serving South Los Angeles, Compton and Lynwood is preparing for a potential influx of COVID-positive patients. It currently only has 17 ventilators. South LA has a high burden of disease that may complicate efforts to treat those with COVID-19.

Having access to a ventilator can be the difference between life and death. Ventilators act as a "breathing machine" for patients with respiratory failure. They remove carbon dioxide and deliver high levels of oxygen to the lungs. Mending Kids staff members unanimously voted to support MLKCH and keep it close to home and be of service to the local community.

Across the nation, basic medical supplies are high in demand and short in supply along with the availability and access of life supporting ventilators. Since the outbreak, Mending Kids has halted all its overseas surgical missions, redirecting its efforts towards donating consumables and sourcing PPE to support local communities, front line medical personnel and patients.

Recently, Mending Kids donated its medical supplies to assist the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services stationed at Dockweiler RV Park in Los Angeles County which is being used as a COVID-19 isolation and quarantine containment zone to shelter infected homeless individuals in need of a place to self-isolate.

"We acknowledge that this is a modest donation and that Mending Kids is not in a position to help everyone in the world who is battling this virus, but this ventilator may mean the world to the patients and their families who benefit from its use."-Isabelle Fox, Executive Director of Mending Kids

Mending Kids will also move forward with its 8th annual Los Angeles Hometown mission as soon as it is safe to do so and is currently accepting referrals for patients - children (0-18) who may be in need of elective procedures that have been denied coverage by insurance, once surgeries resume. For more information please call: 1-800-993-5680 or visit https://www.mendingkids.org/

To schedule an interview with Dorothy Lucey, Mending Kids board member, or Isabelle Fox, Executive Director of Mending Kids, please contact Adrienne Johnson.

Contact
Adrienne Johnson
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