Reem Sheikh, a 2012 graduate of the DMU College of Podiatric Medicine and Surgery, used the combined power of mothers and Facebook to raise funds for personal protective equipment (PPE) for her colleagues. An attending podiatrist at New York Metropolitan, Lincoln and Harlem hospitals and a surgery faculty member at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine, she turned to her “mom groups” on Facebook to generate support for PPE for fellow care providers working in a COVID-19 testing center and in intensive care. They created a Go Fund Me site that raised more than $17,000 by early April.
“It all started with a plea for goggles and now it is a successful campaign, where I receive PPE/order PPE from U.S.-based suppliers, and it is given directly to my residents for use,” she emailed on April 6.
Dr. Sheikh was interviewed for her efforts by CBS News on April 7. “Moms get things done,” she said in the interview. Herself a mom, she expressed gratitude to her “mom volunteers” Maya Crauderueff, Beatriz Warecki, Priscilla Oswalt, Elizabeth Varghese and Lauren Hurwitz, whom she praised as “non-physician moms protecting doctors on the front lines.”
Learn more on the GoFundME page.
