WEST HOLLYWOOD—On May 6, travel healthcare company Innover HealthCare handed out hundreds of medical masks and US flags during a National Nurses Day motorcade, in its latest effort to help frontline workers and first responders during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Innover HealthCare usually provides sanitary products for frequent travelers. However, the Jewish Journal reported that the company’s manufacturers had to cease selling Dimitri Kermani – founder and CEO of the healthcare organization – the items when the COVID-19 outbreak began, due to the Defense Production Act.
Instead of shutting down, Innover HealthCare mentioned on its Twitter page that it had “shifted its focus towards helping get critical supplies to first responders. We have sent medical equipment and supplies all around the United States and as far as Mexico.”
The City of West Hollywood hosted 2 motorcades on May 6 to honor healthcare workers, and Kermani distributed the items alongside West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore Lindsey P. Horvath and Los Angeles City 4th District Councilman David Ryu during one of them.
Innover HealthCare has also partnered with the Lipton Legal Group, which created the Lipton Legal Accidental Relief Fund to provide meals for first responders and healthcare workers. All donations received by both companies were put in the Relief Fund when it was declared nonprofit.
“We were able to collect tens of thousands of dollars,” Kermani said to the Journal. “We’ve been sourcing masks, we’ve been sourcing goggles, gloves, gowns, all different forms of PPE that we’ve been donating all around the country.”
The duo used the money to create the ‘Mask and Meal Program’, which provided a meal and at least 1 mask to every first responder at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department for 2 weeks in April. They widened the program to include local healthcare workers after seeing its success at the Sheriff’s Department, leading to the mask and flag distribution at the motorcade.
Kermani mentioned on his social media account that he also gave a “box of hand sanitizer, face masks, and 6 gowns, all of which cost around $50,” to Robert Wolfe, a pulmonologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Innover HealthCare claims to have provided 12,040 meals, 13,000 masks, 890 sanitizers, and 560 gowns thus far. The company has set up a “Doctor, Nurse & EMS Critical PPE Supply Fund” on GoFundMe, which has raised over $9,000, but is a long way away from its $50,000 goal. Donations can be made here.
