PLANTATION, Fla., April 10, 2020 — American Heritage School has been offering an international homestay high school program for the past 10 years, and many of the students hail from China. The parents of the current Chinese students banded together to help those in the front lines of this medical crisis and shipped over 50,000 masks from China to Broward County, Florida.
Only a few months ago, the parents of the international students experienced the serious impact of this virus in their hometowns. As news of a PPE (personal protective equipment) shortage spread, the parents in China wanted to help. So they worked together to collect more than 50,000 protective face masks and 650 European certified medical goggles. The supplies were quickly shipped from China to American Heritage School, and the parents also generously added many specialized 3M 1860 N95 face masks. These FDA-approved respiratory protective masks are the recommended respirator for the 2019-2020 Coronavirus outbreak, designed to achieve a very close facial fit and filter out a minimum of 95 percent of airborne particles. It is almost impossible to find these N95 face masks in the U.S. today.
At the request of the donors, the PPE supplies have been distributed to Broward hospitals, including the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Memorial Healthcare System, Memorial Hospital Miramar ICU, West Regional Hospital, and the Broward Institute of Orthopedic Specialties, as well as to the Broward Sheriff’s Office and Weston Sheriff’s Office, Boys and Girls Clubs of Broward County, and the maintenance staff and security guards at both campuses of American Heritage School.
“It is truly heartwarming to receive the shipments from our Chinese families of the PPE supplies as they arrive one after another and are distributed to the first responders,” said Wenjing Hu, International Admissions Director and high school Chinese teacher at American Heritage. “I believe that our joint effort and social responsibility is what will make a difference during this extraordinary time.”