UES Medical Centers Get 6,000 Masks Donated Through Local Pol

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Three Upper East Side medical centers received thousands of N95 masks this week thanks to a donation by a New Jersey-based manufacturer.

The facilities receiving the 6,000 specialized masks were Lenox Hill Hospital, Memorial Sloan Kettering Medical Center and Mary Manning Walsh/ Archcare Nursing Home. Another 1,000 masks went to The Doe Fund, for its workforce of formerly incarcerated and homeless men who serve as front-line workers as they clean the city's streets.

They were distributed Tuesday by Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright, who helped secure the donation from Protective Health Gear, as well as U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

"With the vaccination program moving forward, we can finally see a pathway to ending this pandemic, but today's distribution of N95 masks is a reminder we are entering a critical phase in the fight," Seawright said in a statement. "We must maintain our focus and our efforts to contain the spread."

Dr. Daniel Baker, medical director of Lenox Hill Hospital, called the masks a "generous donation," saying that medical-grade masks "remain an exceptionally important line of defense against the coronavirus."

Seawright also hosts a weekly mask donation every Thursday outside her district office at York Avenue and East 79th Street.