A new tool developed by Google will aim to help healthcare providers connect with Missouri manufacturers and suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE).
The tool is a joint effort between the state and the Missouri Hospital Association, and was built to help manufacturers that have shifted production to PPE enter the healthcare market and connect with buyers.
Over the past month, the Department of Economic Development (DED) has gathered interest from more than 200 manufacturers and suppliers of PPE and invited all of these companies to register in the system, according to state officials.
Likewise, state healthcare agencies and the Missouri Hospital Association are reaching out to providers across the state to ensure they have access and can connect directly with suppliers through the new tool, officials say.
The April 22 announcement made by the governor’s office came just one day after the sad news that Celia Yap Banago, R.N., a nurse at the Kansas City-based Research Medical Center for more than 40 years, died after caring for a COVID-19 patient.
According to a local report in KCUR, Banago was one of two nurses who in late March treated a patient who was later found to have COVID-19. Banago’s colleague said they “treated the patient without N95 masks or any of the specialized protective equipment typically used when treating COVID-19 patients in intensive care units and other facilities.”
The report further noted that “for weeks, hospital workers in the Kansas City area have been warning that the lack of adequate personal protective equipment was putting them at risk when treating COVID-19 patients.”
Expanding reserves of PPE by opening public and private supply chains is one of the four essential pillars of the “Show Me Strong Recovery” plan introduced by Governor Parson on April 17.
“It’s vital that we keep our healthcare workers as protected as possible in the fight against COVID-19,” Missouri Governor Mike Parson said in a statement. “Manufacturers across the state have answered the call to help protect our healthcare workers, and we are committed to doing all we can to get this equipment into the hands of those that need it.”
