Holiday season is the time of the year where the community normally would gather and share gratitude and gifts with one another.  Though COVID-19 requires social distancing and has changed the way holidays are celebrated for this year, the  LT Red Cross Club is still helping others. The LT Red Cross Club has hosted a special Medical Drive for supplies such as masks, gloves, and other protective gear for local hospitals from November 16- December 4 at Lebanon Trail High School. 

From the data of American Nurse Association, 42% of American nurses have run out of PPE and 58% of nurse respondents suggest that they have to reuse single-use N95 masks for at least five days.  

As a community, club vice president senior Yuvraj Singh said that as he has been paying attention to these datas, the purpose of hosting this drive is to give relief to those medical frontline workers by collecting these items since many hospitals are currently low on PPE. 

“We want the staff to feel as safe as possible,” Singh said. “And we hope that this drive may help those working in the frontline to save more lives.” 

This shocking data has caused many challenges for hospitals across the nation, and Red Cross Club president Neev Varma said that they have partnered up with the Children’s Medical Center to create this medical supplies drive in order to assist Hospital Patients and Staff during this holiday season. 

“The drive had ended on Friday, December 4t  with all of the donation items being sanitized and organized by our LTHS Red Cross members. We plan to have these items donated by Sunday, December 6,” Varma said. “ Unfortunately our club doesn’t have donation bins at LT anymore but please feel free to drop off your donation items at the Children’s Medical Center in Plano if you would still like to donate.” 

By achieving this purpose the Red Cross Club is donating the supplies collected to the Children’s Medical Center to help as many people as possible. 

“We plan on helping the community by donations to help reduce stress or help boost supplies that some may need,” Singh said. “ I hope that our donations can help them to feel safer and make sure that they do not run out of supplies.” 

Other students such as sophomore student Naviya Ravi have seen a positive impact of this project across the entire school. 

“ I believe the medical drive hosted by our Red Cross club makes students more aware of ongoing events in our community and allows students to appreciate the work of frontline workers,” Ravi said. 

The medical drive started by Red Cross Club  impacted the study body as a whole in that it brought awareness to current events in the medical field while bringing warmth to all frontline workers during this challenging time. 

“I want to  spread the idea that no donation/assistance is too small as even the smallest donation or assistance you can provide will positively benefit the recipient,” Varma said. “Putting these ideas into context, this project has shown both the support for others and that every size donation provides assistance to our recipient: The Plano Children’s Medical Center.”