PIQUA – As the COVID-19 health crisis continues to affect area communities, Edison State Community College is stepping up to help local health care facilities in need through the donation of personal protective equipment.

Edison State’s health sciences programs recently donated 4,200 gloves, 500 masks, 90 lab coats and 100 gowns to Wilson Health, Wayne Healthcare and the Greater Dayton Area Hospital Association.

The GDAHA collaborates with 29 Dayton hospital locations, health organizations and numerous community partners to improve the quality and cost of health care in the region. Several of the hospitals that the association partners with include Upper Valley Medical Center-Premier Health, Kettering Health Network and Dayton Children’s Hospital, along with Wayne HealthCare and Wilson Health.

“We have students completing clinical rotations at all of these facilities, so we wanted to support these agencies with our donation,” said Jill Bobb, program administrator of nursing at Edison State.

“We’re grateful to be able to partner with these hospitals,” Bobb added. “While students haven’t necessarily been able to complete all of their clinical rotations with these sites this semester, the hospitals are being very generous to open up all of the acute care clinical rotations as they are able.”

The college also has donated more than 1,300 reusable tote bags for school lunch distribution, and several employees are making masks from home while also mentoring others on how to produce them.

“We take the ‘community’ part of our title very seriously. Our ongoing community partnerships allow us to redeploy our resources quickly, and we are happy to do so,” said Doreen Larson, president of Edison State.