The Motion Picture & Television Fund is seeking matching contributions to double the $250,000 pledged by the John and Marilyn Wells Family Foundation to help defray the cost of PPE and food for caregivers at its skilled nursing home in Woodland Hills, where six residents have died of COVID-19. Several caregivers have also contracted the virus, though none has died. The donations also will go toward the general upkeep of the facility’s coronavirus care unit.
John Wells, the Emmy-winning writer-producer of ER and The West Wing, is a member of the MPTF Board of Governors and a former WGA West president. “We have to pull together to get through these difficult times and show we’re a community that cares about our coworkers!” he said in a statement.
Robert Jensen, materials manager director at the MPTF, made an impassioned appeal to the industry today for assistance. “If I were going to say something to you, to the people who care about MPTF, it would be to say we need your help; we need your donations. This disaster is monumental. But it’s not bigger than us, if we all pitch in.”
In a mass email to supporters, Jensen wrote: “Months ago, when this whole thing was just a whisper, before the quarantines and before the general public was walking around with face masks, we decided to stand up an isolation wing on our campus. Just in case. It was done with urgency and it was expensive. That decision proved to be more prescient than we could have known. 17 of our residents have been treated there. And it’s been a new world every day since: new protocols, new systems, more layers of protective gear, additional staffing with pay premiums. The needs keep coming, the prices keep rising, and the invoices are more substantial with each passing week.”
He provided these as examples of just how expensive it is to keep the facility going:
- One long-sleeved disposable gown: $3-10.25/per
- One gallon jug of hand sanitizer: $150/per
- One box of disposable masks: $50/per
- Iso wing entry: disposable gown, boot covers, gloves, head cover, N-95 mask, and face shield for each patients’ room entry: 12x/day, per patient, $8.25 each entry: $1,386/day
- Iso wing setup: facilities air systems, plumbing, electrical, inventory supplies, computers, WiFi, phones, medical equipment, bed rentals: $96,000
250 meals a day for employees alone: $7/per
“Line by line, it may not seem like much,” he wrote, “but when you take these simple numbers and multiply them by the need and the stakes, it’s been like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”