VVUHSD donates thousands of masks, respirators to hospitals

VICTORVILLE, Calif. — The Victor Valley Union High School District donated 10,000 surgical masks and more than 1,400 respirator masks to local hospitals this week.

“Through our employees we found out the hospitals were in dire need of masks (due to the COVID-19 pandemic),” VVUHSD Director of Maintenance, Facilities and Operations Brett Jurgensen said.

The district just so happened to have thousands of unused surgical masks and N95 facial respirators sitting in boxes at the district storage facility. Jurgensen said the masks had been there since before he started working with the district several years ago, and they were likely purchased during the Blue Cut fire in case students had to be sent to school in poor air quality.

Jurgensen talked to Superintendent Dr. Ron Williams and the district administration team, and they made the decision to donate the masks on Wednesday.

“We are facing this situation as a community, and we will take every opportunity to support other agencies in this fight,” Williams said.

The area’s three hospitals — Victor Valley Global Medical Center, St. Mary Regional Medical Center and Desert Valley Hospital — were each sent 480 facial respirators. St. Mary and Desert Valley were each sent 4,000 surgical masks, and Victor Valley Global was sent 2,000 masks. 

Jurgensen said the district has plenty of masks and respirators left for VVUHSD employees, some of whom are still working as the district continues distance learning and meal service amid the facilities closure necessitated by COVID-19.

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