Glendale Fire creates ‘COVID-19 kits’ for families impacted by virus

PHOENIX – When the doors of an ambulance close to take someone to the hospital, families and loved ones of the person inside are often left scared, confused and feeling helpless.

Starting Monday, the Glendale Fire Department hopes to empower families by leaving them with “COVID-19 kits”.

The kits are full of hand sanitizer, masks, and more importantly, resources that will help the family during a time of crisis.

COVID KITS: When an ambulance in Glendale closes its doors – families & loved ones will be left with a bag full of masks, hand sanitizer, and info. @GlendaleFire made a QR code full of resources on testing, vaccine info, and hospital visitation polices. @KTAR923 pic.twitter.com/AHjMtAmWao

— Ali Vetnar (@Ali_Vetnar) February 4, 2021

“These kits, we’re hoping, are going to kind of fill the gap for families that are having to watch their family member pull away in an ambulance and not know what’s next,” Captain Ashley Losch said Thursday.

Losch created 500 kits with donations from the Glendale Mayor’s Office, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona and The Home Depot Foundation.

Each bag has a clear plastic tag hanging from the front of it with a real-time QR code full of useful information. That information includes COVID-19 testing sites, vaccination information and current hospital visitation policies for hospitals in the community.

“The goal is to provide a little bit of comfort to give the families the information that they’re going to need to answer those what’s next questions,” Losch said.

Fire trucks across Glendale will have the kits to distribute, with fire stations in the southern portion expected to receive more “COVID-19 kits” compared to the rest of the city’s fire stations as they have been running on more COVID-related 911 calls.

Follow @Ali_Vetnar