Coney Islanders make and deliver
protective gear to struggling hospitals
ALL PRICES HAVE BEEN DISCOUNTED
COURIER LIFE, APRIL 17-23, 2020 3
BY ROSE ADAMS
As the COVID-19 outbreak
continues to lay siege on
Brooklyn, charitable residents
on the People’s Playground
are working to manufacture
and deliver protective gear to
Brooklyn hospitals.
One group, led by City
Council candidate Steven
Patzer, delivered more than
5,000 masks, 10,000 gloves, and
nearly 500 meals to fi ve hospitals
and one police precinct on
April 8.
“I’m grateful to be healthy
enough to serve my community
and gather support from
the community during diffi -
cult times,” he said. “I’m even
more grateful for the fi rst responders
who need and deserve
protective equipment
and our gratitude.”
The group, which received
the donations from local businesses
and families, gifted
more than 1,000 masks to Coney
Island Hospital, Maimonides
Medical Center, and
NYU Langone, as well as dozens
of pizza pies, snacks, and
a Carvel ice cream cake. The
team also dropped off protective
gear, snacks, and cake at
New York Community Hospital,
the Brooklyn VA Medical
Center in Bay Ridge, and the
68th Precinct, Patzer said.
Meanwhile, the family that
owns Coney Island’s famed Deno’s
Wonder Wheel has been
hard at work manufacturing
face shields using 3-D printers,
which they have been donating
to healthcare workers.
Deno Vourderis, whose
grandfather bought the Wonder
Wheel in 1983, uses the 3-D
printer to manufacture obsolete
parts for the 100-year-old
Wonder Wheel and other old
rides at Deno’s Wonder Wheel
Park. But since the amusement
park’s opening is indefinitely
postponed, Vourderis
has used the machine to print
medical visors — and has already
made more than 100 in
the last two days.
“I had 3-D printers, and I
said there has to be something
I can do with these,” he said.
Vourderis said he makes
the shields using templates he
found online.
“Everybody supplied these
designs free, they were all
open source, easy to download,”
he said. “It really is so
heartwarming to see some
many people from so many
different countries coming together
for a common cause.”
Vourderis’ wife, who delivered
the shields to local hospitals,
was distraught by type
of protective equipment medics
were provided, Vourderis
said.
“My sister dropped off a
box the other day because
she started crying. She said,
‘They’re wearing garbage
bags,'” he said.
The donations provide a
needed boost to local hospitals,
which have been running
low on personal protective
equipment for weeks. Emergency
workers at Coney Island
Hospital and other medical
centers are only given one face
mask per week in order to conserve
the hospital’s small supply,
medics have said.
To boost the number of
masks available, the Food and
Drug Administration recently
allowed medical centers to
use a more widely-available
mask, China’s KN95 mask, to
treat COVID-19 patients. But
despite the change, New York
City hospitals still report a
critical shortage of gear, USA
Today reported.
Coney Island volunteers delivered thousands of masks and gloves to
Brooklyn hospitals on April 8. Photo by Erica Price
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