LYNN — The Health Department received a donation of approximately 6,000 pounds of health supplies from the Baker administration Thursday, and expects another shipment of around 4,000 pounds of supplies to arrive Monday.
Walking through the first floor of City Hall Friday afternoon, stacks of boxes, some six or seven feet tall, lined the halls. Each stack contained dozens, if not hundreds, of child and adult-sized facemasks, hand sanitizer bottles, bandages, and contact-free infrared thermometers to be distributed to the community.
The Health Department’s, Public Health Coordinator Norris Guscott said, plans to partner with local organizations to distribute the supplies to a variety of community centers throughout the city.
“We are planning on partnering with community organizations, who see vulnerable populations a lot. It would be easy to distribute those key points. We’re talking about libraries, we’re talking about nonprofits like Lynn Community Health Center, various nonprofits, even looking into the Food Security Task Force, as they also see vulnerable populations,” Guscott said.
Although COVID-19 infection rates have declined significantly since the peak pandemic, Guscott said that a COVID surge could happen at any moment, and that the city should be prepared to use the resources to fight the ongoing flu season.
“It only takes the right conditions for it to spike again. We’re actually at peak flu season now and the holiday seasons are coming up, which means there are lots of gatherings. COVID, flus and colds love that, so we’ve got things here that would address all of those,” Guscott said.
While Guscott said that the Health Department plans to distribute the supplies through a variety of organizations, departments, and community hubs, residents can also stop by the Health Department in City Hall to pick up free supplies.
“I think it’s going to be a decentralized approach where we are providing resources to the organizations who see the residents. From that point, the residents can get it from those organizations, and can always come right here to get the resources as well, but we aren’t the only place that they can get it from,” he said.
Public Health Director Michelle Desmarais said that with winter holidays right around the corner, she hopes that Lynn residents will take advantage of the department’s newly-acquired resources.
“I just hope that the residents will take advantage of these resources as they are very important, especially with holidays approaching. They’re free, they’re valuable, and you can have them,” Desmarais said.
