Flagler Donors Show Their Love For Hospital “Heroes” as AdventHealth Opens Hubs for Covid-19 Contributions

“I’ve always been into trying to give back to the community or whatever it is that needs to be done wherever I live,” Dearth, who lives near the nine-hole golf course at the south end of Flagler Beach, says. “I just wanted to do something for our local heroes here.”

Her condo association has 46 units, the one next door has 86. She emailed residents in both, and started getting contributions of $20, $50, some as high as $100. “It’s been a joint effort of a lot of Flagler Beach residents that understand the crisis we’re in,” Dearth said, and the importance of keeping spirits up at the hospital–and doing what can be done to keep it from getting overrun.

Dearth is making a presentation of food, face masks, face shields and gloves to the hospital on April 13, including signs speaking recognition for health workers. The effort is only a first step. Dearth says this will be ongoing, with similar efforts intended to support the local police and fire departments. (Dearth may be contacted by email at wanda.flaglerbeach@gmail.com or by phone at 386-569-5276.) Dearth teaches craft classes and will be including crafts among the donated items–anything “to put a smile on people’s faces,” whether health care workers or patients.

The AdventHealth system has benefited from an outpouring of support like Dearth’s across the state and elsewhere. In response, it has established a central, electronic hub for people who want to support health care employees on the front lines. The hub enables people to leave notes of thanks, contribute actual relief items, and making tax-deductible financial donations.

According to AdventHealth, which runs AdventHealth Palm Coast, the greatest opportunities for community support are:

• Food for care teams
• Care packages for caregivers who have been impacted by COVID-19
• Lodging (hotel, vacation rentals, etc.) for on-call staff
• Financial donations to support AdventHealth’s nationwide response and relief efforts. One-hundred percent of tax-deductible gifts will be used to help with emergency relief efforts. This fund will extend nationwide to help front-line teams who have been impacted by COVID-19 as they care for communities like Palm Coast.
• Blankets to gift to patients

  The donation hub, administered by the AdventHealth Central Florida Foundation, is at www.AdventHealth.com/COVID19Relief. Those who want to donate specifically to AdventHealth’s efforts in Central Florida can email FoundationInfo@AdventHealth.com or call 407-303-8286.

  AdventHealth is also launching a site for the community to leave a note of thanks or encouragement for the physicians, nurses and other clinicians on the frontlines of the COVID pandemic, according toa release the system issued on Monday. Learn more at www.AdventHealth.com/SpreadThanks. AdventHealth is asking the community to use #SpreadThanks to post a thank you note on social media platforms for caregivers to publicly see the outpouring of love and support from our community.

  “We are humbled and blessed by the outpouring of support from our community in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said David Collis, president of the AdventHealth Central Florida Foundation. “AdventHealth has benefited from the generosity of Central Floridians for 112 years and community support recently helped us build a state-of-the-art ICU that will be used to treat patients with most severe cases of COVID-19. We thank Central Florida for the kindness and outpouring of support during this challenging time.”

  At AdventHealth’s donation portal, donors fill out an electronic form and indicate what they wish to donate and where they are geographically. “The way our community is caring for our caregivers continues to provide comfort and lift spirits,” the page states. “We deeply appreciate our community’s support in providing items such as food and care packages for our front line clinical team as we focus on fighting COVID-19.”

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