Yale New Haven Hospital Residents provide New Haven demonstrators with a donation of masks

New Haven, CT (June 5, 2020) – Healthcare workers across Yale New Haven Health have cared with distinction for patients hospitalized with COVID-19 for the past several months, in alignment with one of the Health System’s core missions: to serve and care for the sick without regard to race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, cultural background or socioeconomic status.

As an organization, we now have a moral imperative to serve our communities in a different way. As healthcare workers and human beings, we have been deeply affected by the accelerating pace of atrocities committed against the black community that have triggered widespread protests against the enduring injustices perpetrated against them.

On Friday, protesters will be peacefully marching in the city of New Haven. As a gesture of solidarity, the resident staff of Yale New Haven Hospital, via Need Masks Today, will be donating and distributing 2000 masks to the participants of the protest. Need Masks Today is a coalition of YNHH resident physicians and other healthcare workers who are focused on highlighting the need for adequate PPE for all essential workers and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Black Lives Matter Co-founder Ala Ochumare appreciates these efforts. 

Today, this organization, with the full support of Yale New Haven Hospital and the Health System, is standing in solidarity with members of the Black communities to denounce police brutality.

“Need Masks Today was created to protect frontline and essential workers against COVID-19. We are proud to now be also protecting advocates on the frontline who are demanding changes to our racist society that are long overdue in America,” said group member and Chief Resident Hannah Rosenblum, MD.

Protestors need masks to stay safe from COVID while they express their freedom of speech, as identified and protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution. YNHH Residents are committed to helping protect protesters by collecting and distributing masks donated by YNHH and the Yale School of Medicine at the protest.

“I am proud of our medical community for not only making verbal statements of solidarity but also taking action in protecting protestors,” said group member and Chief Resident Sumit Kumar, MD. Among the core values of Yale New Haven Health is respect – valuing all people- and Integrity – doing the right thing.

“I know that what I value most is the people with whom I work side-by-side to heal and improve health,” said Marna P. Borgstrom, YNHHS CEO.

“These are people of all ages, races and backgrounds. They are people about whom I care deeply whether I know them well or not, because we are all part of what makes Yale New Haven Health truly special.”

Read a letter to employees from Marna P. Borgstrom, CEO >

Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH), part of Yale New Haven Health, is a nationally recognized, 1,541-bed, not-for-profit hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Yale School of Medicine (YSM). Founded as the fourth voluntary hospital in the U.S. in 1826, today, YNHH has two New Haven-based campuses, and also includes Yale New Haven Children's Hospital, Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital and Smilow Cancer Hospital. YNHH has received Magnet designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the nation’s highest honor of nursing excellence. YNHH has a combined medical staff of about 4,500 university and community physicians practicing in more than 100 specialties. www.ynhh.org