Houston Mask Brigade is a grassroots effort to provide local and nationwide hospitals with PPE supplies with the help of Houston's community.
08/14/2020
WE SENT A LAPTOP TO THERACOUNSEL ❗️❗️❗️
In early July, TheraCounsel reached out to us to help look for a local charity that provides computers and tablets free-of-charge to communities in need. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to receive help from the contact we provided.
However, last week we received a laptop from a wonderful team member, who was moving away. Since TheraCounsel was in much need of technology assistance to help with their transition to telehealth, we gave away the laptop to them. TheraCounsel was exhilarated and appreciative of the donation. We recorded the message from Owner Sherri. [ see last image ]
We are grateful for the opportunity that comes our way to support our healthcare communities, near or far. Every single effort helps and makes a difference in the lives of others. 🥰
Share your experience of how you’ve helped your community during this time.
08/07/2020
Houston Mask Brigade wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of local businesses and individuals who support us from the start.
🌟 Transparency is important to our organizational values and especially to you, which is why we want to give credit where credit is due. We keep donations updated and a list of facilities that received your donations on our front page.
➡️ Visit our webpage to see where your donations were put to good use https://sites.google.com/view/houstonmaskbrigade/home
07/31/2020
A letter from the President & Chief Development Officer Chris Bray, Northeast Georgia Health System 🏥✨
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The Houston Mask Brigade team is thankful for the donations from these individual and businesses below:
•Hai Nam BBQ Fast Food Restaurant
• Two Bowl Bun Bo Hue Restaurant
• Duhalo Pure Water
• Cambio Visible Beauty Salon
• $1 Plus Convenient Store
• D'Universal Beauty Salon
• Multi Service D&L
• Food Mart
• We Want Hair Salon
• Variedades El Salvador Restaurant
• Seoul Optical
• Jung Deun Jib Restaurant
• Amy Hieu Hair & Nail Salon
• Beer Wine Liquor Store
• Hair Dep Salon
• Digital Perm Salon
• Pho Dien Restaurant
• Phuoc Tai Jewelry
• Tan Phat Fashion
• Angel Salon
• California Fashion Gifts
• Hong Kong BBQ Restaurant
• Asian Bistro Restaurant
• Angela Co
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With your kind donations, healthcare workers at NGHS were better equipped and prepared for the fight agaisnt Covid-19. Thank you for all your support!
07/26/2020
Our girls, Hania Khan and her friends drove a long way to deliver 💯 faceshields to Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center McNair Campus for the student-led BCM PPE Drive. Great work‼️We can’t be more proud of you. Thank you guys ✨
07/25/2020
Wearing a mask increases the humidity and temperature inside your skin as you breathe. When your skin heats up, it increases sebum production and causes inflammation that may result in a sudden burst of acne 😫
👉 Check out these tips on how to prevent skin problems if you wear mask all day.
1. A must - Remove mask to help your skin breathe every 2-3 hours (when no one is close by)
2. N-95 respirators are coated with preservatives (ethylene urea, melamine formaldehyde, & quaternium-15) that can cause allergic contact dermatitis. When you experience skin troubles, wear a cotton mask underneath the respirator.
3. Cool off your skin with aloe vera gel at the end of the day. Cool the back of your neck with ice bag for 30 minutes to decrease face temperature.
Hope these tips help! ☺️
07/23/2020
What Type of Mask Should You Be Wearing? 😷😷😷
- Click here to request PPE:
forms.gle/nwoPNQCs89hGmWTY7
- Click here to donate masks, gloves, faceshieds,...:
forms.gle/Dtcwz2PgCHrmKz4e8
- Our 👦 volunteer dropped off masks at the post office to be shipped to healthcare heroes.
- Used our mom’s Tide box from the laundry room to help save 🌏
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07/17/2020
Another successful dropoff at Baylor College of Medicine McNair Campus by our superstar volunteer Revanth Vadlamudi 🌟.
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As medical students go back to clinical rotations, our volunteers offer to coordinate pickup donations for both BCM student-led PPE Drive and Houston Mask Brigade. We are super thankful for the help of our amazing volunteers, who unhesitantly go the extra mile in the blazing heat of Houston to serve our community. Your caring spirit is greatly appreciated and derserve 💯
🙏🙏🙏
07/17/2020
A letter from President Richard Meyer, Abbott Northwestern Hospital Foundation, MN 🏥 ✨
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The Houston Mask Brigade team is overjoyed to receive donations from the these businesses:
• 99c & More Convenient Store
• Korean Noodle House
• Nature Sunshine Convenience Store
• Cedar Tree Healthville
• Kim's Cosmetics
Your donations allowed our team to send some relief and support to the staffs team at Abbott Northwestern Hospital during the unprecedented time as the event of George Floyd occurred.
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🌟Thank you so much for your support. Your donations surely made a difference.
07/13/2020
Masks to TheraCounsel were tie-dyed and mailed out in care packages to the elderly, the poor and mentally ill who are currently self-quarantined in their rooms.
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TheraCounsel, INC is a mobile psychotherapy service, based in Florida, where they serve the homebound, low-income & elderly. Our donations turned into care packages were sent to patients infected with Covid and support their nursing staffs.
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Owner Sherri sent in a text - “Houston Mask Brigade is nothing short of a miracle to each of those who will know they are cared out, not forgotten and you will save lives in the meantime!”
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We never could have done it without your support. We appreciate each and everyone who have contributed to our cause. So THIS IS FOR YOU! We all did it because we care.
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Texas and Florida continue to reach higher Covid record everyday. Please make a donation and support our front line workers, our first responders, and our communities get through this. They need us NOW more than ever. All profits will be used for masks and PPE for all healthcare workers struggling.
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Link to our Gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/houston-mask-ppe-donation
Thank you ❤️
07/08/2020
Please be careful everone! 😿
Joseph Petrosino, Chair of Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, joins MSNBC's Craig Melvin to discuss new headlines surrounding research on a coronavirus strain that is more contagious than the original.
07/07/2020
There are 2 different types of tests for COVID-19 – diagnostic tests and antibody tests.
1) Diagnostic test allows one to know whether or not they are currently infected with coronavirus. People with positive result should take precaution steps to prevent further spreading by self quarantine or self-isolations. 🏡
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2) Antibody test checks for the presence of antibodies that are made by the immune system in response to a threat such as the coronavirus. Antibody test should NOT be used to diagnose an active coronavirus infection. A postitive result only shows that you’ve been infected in the past! Samples are taken by a fingerstick or blood draw 💉
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Before you read this, I want to remind you that this story is neither 0.1% interesting nor will it give you a little giggle for your morning/lunch time/afternoon/dinner, well, whenever that is that you are looking at this. If you are looking for an inspiring story of the day, I highly suggest reading today’s highlight story from the Humans of New York. I love their stories! But if you insist on reading my story, I can’t stop you can I? I appreciate you for keeping on reading. If you get boring in the middle, remember Humans of New York have tons of pick-me-up stories waiting for you. Especially the ones with the hashtag #quarrantinestories.
In case you are curious, I am currently a pre-med student. Well, I am not a student any more since I just graduated back in December. I still pursue medicine though. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, my job as a part-time medical assistant for a fertility clinic has been furloughed.
Two weeks after I started taking time off from work, I received a text message from my mentor. He is more like a distant elder brother. We don’t talk or see each other often, but he always makes sure to send me texts from time to time to check how I am studying for the MCAT. I am not going to lie it isn’t nerve-racking to receive text message from him. Haha. Why? Because I have not been studying much...
Nonetheless, if it wasn’t for that text, I would not have found the strength I needed to start the Houston Mask Brigade. He encouraged me to take a leap of faith and create a grassroots movement to tackle the PPE shortages endangering the lives of thousands of American healthcare providers on the front line of the coronavirus pandemic.
If you have not seen posts or stories posted by various social media channels, exposing the working conditions of medical workers in New York City and many other hard-hit areas in America, those stories are horrific! From videos of crying nurses, pictures of exhausted attending physicians,... to messages that beg for people to stay home. I have never seen America in its darker times.
So I toughed up. I reached out to the LA Mask Brigade for help to start a similar effort that same night I got the mentor’s message. There have been lonely, sleepless nights I spent trying to finish up the website, sign-up forms, Instagram account, emailing..., hoping I can get this set up as soon as possible.
Today, I am proud to announce that the Houston Mask Brigade team has grown to 5 official members - 3 co-founders, Phuong, Hung and myself, plus 2 volunteers, Hilda and Duy on board. It has been a great blessing to have everyone working towards one goal, making Houston Mask Brigade a successful effort. We also have over 10 volunteers that sign up to become pick-up drivers. The turnout has been inspiring. It keeps us motivated to work hard, for we know our health care heroes are working 100 times harder.
Right now, we are still short on donations. But we ain’t giving up. It is just a beginning, and we still have a long journey ahead of us. But, let’s stay hopeful the journey is not too long because of course we don’t want our health care workers suffer any longer. For the sake of this blog, I will just keep that sentence there.
We know the end to the coronavirus is still uncertain, but one thing is for sure - we can overcome this unprecedented time TOGETHER.
This story was not intended to be written today. I made up my mind two hours ago and decided to go ahead with it to celebrate the day 2400 corona-infected patients were discharged from Mount Sinai, NYC. And I managed to finish it before the day ends. It is great news for all us. We can’t thank health care workers in NYC enough for this accomplishment.
I hope the story did not bog you down. Again, thank you for your time. Gotta submit it’s 11:58. Oh no, I accidentally hit publish again and it’s past 12:00 *sad*. Okay bye now. Please stay home and be safe.
