Personal Protective Equipment Given to Area Medical Providers at Rose Bowl Distribution

Medical providers from small- and medium-sized practices throughout Los Angeles and Orange counties picked up thousands of dollars worth of free personal protective equipment each at the Rose Bowl on Monday as the California Medical Association kicked off a week of free distribution events to help keep those on the front lines of the battle against COVID-19 safe.

PPE Relief Week is being held in partnership with the Los Angeles County Medical Association and health-care services company Altais, organizers said.

The Rose Bowl distribution was the first of five drive-through events planned through Friday, according to the Los Angeles County Medical Association’s Physicians News Network.

Nearly 30,000 physicians pre-registered for the program, in which practices with 50 or fewer employees received free kits including up to two months worth of protective gear, the organization said in a written statement.

About $7 million worth of PPE is to be given away in all, “including N95s, gowns, gloves, shields, hand sanitizers and more,” the statement said. “Each physician’s PPE kit is valued at more than $4,000.”

As the pandemic has stretched on during the past four months, “many physicians have had to limit hours or close their doors completely because they cannot find the PPE they need to keep their offices open,” Altais said in a written statement. “This supply of PPE will help fortify California’s health-care infrastructure as we continue to wrestle with the COVID-19 pandemic and issues with the PPE supply chain.”

CMA President Dr. Peter Bretan Jr. said he was glad to partner with the state to help get the PPE out into the community.

“We want to thank Gov. Newsom and his administration for ensuring this essential protective equipment gets into the hands of the physicians who need it so they can provide essential health care to their patients,” he said.

Altais President and CEO Dr. Jeff Bailet agreed.

“It is our honor to partner with the CMA and the state of California to provide much-needed personal protective equipment to California physicians and clinicians on the front line,” he said.

Additional distributions this week will take place in Torrance, Arcadia, Culver City and Woodland Hills, according to the L.A. County Medical Association.

The events had all been filled to capacity, according to the CMA website.

Medical professionals interested in being informed of future PPE distributions were invited to email the CMA at ppe@cmadocs.org.