St. Paul's inundated with unneeded supplies after bad information shared on social media
Hospital says it has more than enough hand sanitizer and face masks, despite what's circulating on Facebook
UPDATE, March 21, 2020: Providence Health Care, which operates St. Paul's Hospital, says it is still accepting donations in order to keep all 17 of its sites fully stocked. "We'd like to assure everyone that supplies are currently stable, but we are still accepting donations in the event that we may need them," the health care provider wrote in a Facebook post Friday morning.
A viral Facebook post announcing St. Paul's in Vancouver is running out of hand sanitizer and face masks has well-intentioned people pulling up at the hospital's loading bays to donate from their personal stash.
Problem is, St. Paul's is experiencing no such shortage.
And all the good Samaritans looking to share supplies in the time of COVID-19 are now clogging up operations, according to the hospital's director of stores.
"We're fine. We have a very robust provincial supply line," said Don Wills, the hospital's director of logistics and facilities. "It's very gracious and I acknowledge the kind intentions, but it's also misguided."
The guilty post making the rounds says the hospital "is not asking people to give up their personal supply."
"This is for people who panicked and bought a case etc. No judgment. No questions asked. Anonymous," it reads. "Thank you and please share this post."
It then goes on to give Wills' email address, which has become an altogether different kind of headache.
"I'm hamstrung," he said. "It's overwhelming my inbox."
Wills believes the errant outpouring of goodwill was triggered when a comment made by an emergency room nurse in a closed chat group was misconstrued and circulated on social media.
He's hoping to stop the "social media chaos," as he calls it, by getting the word out that although St. Paul's Hospital is grateful for everyone's generosity, it is also well stocked.