Ryan Nicol
The AT&T Foundation is giving $25,000 to the Orlando Health Team Member Relief Fund to help pay for living expenses for front line health care workers.
The donation will go toward stipends for rent, utilities and other living expenses.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging daily life as we know it, and Florida’s healthcare professionals are operating on the frontlines of this crisis,” AT&T External Affairs Regional Director Dan Pollock said.
“With those in mind that leave their families every day to help others, the AT&T Foundation is proud to support Orlando Health. These brave men and women represent the best of us and we are pleased to offer our support.”
Florida’s hospitals have largely maintained capacity through the COVID-19 crisis. However, workers across the nation have struggled with personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages and other hurdles as they have responded to the pandemic which has left more than 90,000 dead in the U.S.
As of Monday morning, nearly 2,100 Floridians have died. More than 46,000 cases have been confirmed across the state.
The Orlando Health organization has more than 400 locations spread throughout nine different counties.
“We are grateful for the AT&T Foundation’s generosity to the frontline healthcare workers at Orlando Health during the constantly evolving COVID-19 pandemic,” said John Bozard, president of the Orlando Health Foundation.
“This grant will help our health care workers who are laboring around the clock and experiencing financial hardship due to lack of childcare and partners’ jobs being furloughed.”
Florida has begun to reopen its economy, but a return to normal is still far in the distance. That’s led to many families dealing with economic hardship in the past two months.
AT&T has made multiple charitable contributions throughout the crisis. On May 1, the company sent a similar $25,000 check to the Jackson Health Foundation Pandemic Relief Fund in South Florida. Days later, AT&T partnered with the Miami Marlins Foundation on a week-long effort to feed 3,000 health care workers.
