If you missed our Open Letter to Governor Cuomo, it mentions how New York State is storing millions of N95 masks, gloves, surgical gowns and more in warehouses across the state. Even though three of those facilities are here in the Capital Region, local agencies are unable to get any of them to protect their workers.
The Governor and his top aide, Melissa DeRosa have both confirmed in daily briefings that there are enough PPE to go around and the hospitals have enough supplies. I’ve reached out to both Albany Med and St. Peter’s and they confirm that they are well stocked for now. However, I have been in touch with workers at local agencies, some with COVID-19 patients, and they say they have an extremely limited supply and requests for more have gone ignored. I reached out to the Governor’s office on their behalf multiple occasions, and gotten absolutely no response. Keep in mind, these are agencies that are being overseen by state.
After getting nowhere with the Governor’s office, I then reached to Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, since the places that need the supplies are in Albany County. He was unable to help obtain any of the state supplies.
However… Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple immediately came to the rescue. He has had to independently track down PPE for his own frontline workers (Sheriff’s Department and Corrections Officers) and even though they are also limited in their inventory, he did not hesitate to send over supplies for those who had reached out us. Within one hour, Deputy Tim Flynn was at the WGY studio with:
*200 KN95 masks
*500 surgical masks
*2,000 gloves
*100 bottles of hand sanitizer
*30 travel kits with sanitizer and cloth wipes
Today, Chuck and I delivered them to the Warren, Washington and Albany County ARC and Living Resources and they will distribute them to their workers.
Collaboration and teamwork are wonderful things, and such a refreshing response after banging my head against the wall with the Governor’s office. For someone who never shies away from a chance at self-promotion, like crawling through the bowels of Clinton Correctional Facility, pulling an injured driver from a truck accident on the highway, and sending New York resources to Puerto Rico… it’s disappointing that his office would ignore repeated requests for help from upstate workers who are just trying to stay safe, while doing essential and risky jobs.
Here are some more photos from the day...