Florida Division of Emergency Management Sends 500,000 Gowns to Long-Term Care Facilities

TALLAHASSEE– On Friday, June 5th the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) announced that 500,000 gowns are being sent to long-term care facilities across Florida.

These gowns are being sent to every long-term care facility in the state based on the number of licensed beds in each facility.

“Providing critical PPE that keeps our long-term care facility residents and staff safe is our most critical mission at the Division,” said FDEM Director Jared Moskowitz. “Today, we are sending these gowns directly to long-term care facilities and are making sure there are no unmet needs at these facilities statewide. At the Division, we have been in communication with county emergency management, long-term care facilities, and long-term care facility associations to make sure that these facilities have all of the equipment they need on hand.”

“We’re so thankful to the Division for its continued support of our care centers,” said Emmett Reed, Executive Director of the Florida Health Care Association. “As we’ve seen, residents of long-term care facilities are some of the most vulnerable to the virus. But thanks to the incredible amount of PPE resources we have received, combined with the smart early action of the DeSantis administration to limit visitation, we’ve seen a much lower rate of infection in Florida compared to other states. On behalf of these facilities, their residents and the families that depend on us to keep their loved ones safe, we thank the Governor, Director Moskowitz and the State of Florida for their swift and steadfast response.”

“Under these difficult COVID-19 circumstances, the long-term care community has appreciated the assistance from the state, particularly FDEM Director Moskowitz,” said Jeffrey Freimark, CEO of Miami Jewish Health Systems. “There were some initial challenges at first, but they worked with our incredible caregivers to make sure we are able to provide the necessary care to our residents. Through conservation of resources and support from the state, our team was able to make sure we did not run out of PPE when we so desperately needed it.”

“As the owner of multiple nursing facilities throughout Florida, I couldn’t be more appreciative of Governor DeSantis’ leadership throughout the COVID-19 crisis,” said Andrew S. Weisman, President and CEO of NuVision. “Fortunately for us, the State was quick to help meet our needs to ensure that we had sufficient PPE. We have felt continuous support at our centers and it truly helped us safeguard our residents from the virus. I honestly do not know what long-term care facility leaders would have done if not for the state’s consistent leadership.”

Including this push of gowns, to date, the Division has sent the following PPE to support health care workers, first responders and long-term care facilities:

• Nearly 28 million masks
• More than 11 million gloves
• Nearly 1.7 million face shields
• More than 1.1 million shoe covers
• More than 1.4 million gowns
• More than 91 thousand goggles
• More than 53.5 thousand coveralls

With this push of gowns, for long-term care facilities alone, the Division has sent:

• More than 10 million masks
• 1 million gloves
• More than 500,000 face shields
• More than 900,000 gowns

In May, the Federal Government sent the following directly to long-term care facilities in Florida:

• 400,000 gowns
• 1.96 million gloves
• 421,500 masks
• 38,000 face shields