“Gowns 4 Good” Uses Graduation Gowns To Fill The Medical PPE Gap

The Covid-19 pandemic has put a serious strain on personal protective equipment (PPE) in the medical field. We’ve all seen photographs of medical professionals wearing garbage bags or other alternatives when official PPE simply is not available. While supplies have been difficult to come by in many areas, Nathaniel Moore had a brilliant idea. A physician’s assistant at the University of Vermont, Burlington, took one look at his graduation gown and asked why it couldn’t be repurposed to help keep medical professionals safe.

This insight led to him founding the charity Gowns 4 Good, according to Good News Network.

Wear The Cap, Donate The Gown

If you’ve ever worn a graduation gown, then you already know how they feel. They’re slick, plastic, liquid runs right off of them, and while they may not be a perfect replacement for medical PPE, they are a huge improvement over garbage bags. Since then, the charity has already collected thousands of graduation gowns donated by students. They have been getting gowns into the hands of medical professionals on the pandemic’s front lines, helping them to stay safe while they attempt to fight the sickness. And it’s estimated that if donations surged, it could completely wipe out the shortages that have been seen in PPE.

Millions of students graduated school this year, both high school and university. Many of them didn’t even get the chance to attend in-person graduation, where they would have worn their caps and gowns when they received their diplomas. And instead of just throwing those items away unused (even if they could be processed and recycled), they could do some real good right now. And with hospitals turning to the charity with sometimes substantial orders for replacement PPE, this repurposing is already having a noticeable impact in some areas.