Goggles For Docs

Olympic snowboard champion Anna Gasser cleaned out her closet in Austria over the weekend and found nine pairs of goggles.

BEIJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 14: Anna Gasser of Austria looks on after competing in the Women's Snowboard Big Air finals during the 2019 Air+Style Beijing FIS SnowBoard World Cup at Shougang Park on December 14, 2019 in Beijing, China. The Big Air Shougang is a venue for an FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Cup competition from December 10 to 14, and Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

They're all being cleaned, packed and donated, including a pair she's pretty certain she wore at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Destination: Healthcare workers.

Olympic athletes, recreational skiers and snowboarders, resorts and businesses are contributing an assortment of ski goggles with one clear vision: To help those in the medical community who are in need of eye protection as they treat patients with COVID-19.

It's part of a program called " Goggles for Docs," a grassroots effort that began in late March and has already donated more than 18,000 goggles.

BEIJING, CHINA - JANUARY 30: A woman wears a protective mask and ski goggles as she lines up to check in to a flight at Beijing Capital Airport on January 30, 2020 in Beijing, China. The number of cases of a deadly new coronavirus rose to over 7000 in mainland China Thursday as the country continued to lock down the city of Wuhan in an effort to contain the spread of the pneumonia-like disease which medicals experts have confirmed can be passed from human to human. In an unprecedented move, Chinese authorities put travel restrictions on the city which is the epicentre of the virus and neighbouring municipalities affecting tens of millions of people. The number of those who have died from the virus in China climbed to over 170 on Thursday, mostly in Hubei province, and cases have been reported in other countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and France. The World Health Organization has warned all governments to be on alert, and its emergency committee is to meet later on Thursday to decide whether to declare a global health emergency. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

"People are really stepping up to the plate," said Dr. Ronald Gross, an acute care surgeon at St. Francis Hospital in Connecticut. "People care about each other. That's the uplifting part."

Both new and used goggles are welcome (medical personnel can disinfect and use them over again). Lenses that are tinted, clear or dark all work. Because as the website states, anything is "better than a COVID cough to the face" at a time when there's a shortage of personal protective equipment.

A counter on the website tracks the number of goggles the program has received. In addition, there's a chart for how many goggles a particular place needs. For instance, 438 pairs throughout California, 288 in Missouri, 48 in Florida and 167 in Puerto Rico.

An Emergency Medical Technician wearing ski goggles brings a patient into Wyckoff Hospital in the Borough of Brooklyn on April 6, 2020 in New York. - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday extended a shutdown in the epicenter of America's deadly coronavirus pandemic until near the end of the month. Cuomo said the COVID-19 death rate in New York was "effectively flat" for the past two days but announced that schools and non-essential businesses must stay shut until April 29. (Photo by Bryan R. Smith / AFP) (Photo by BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

"The snow-sports community is attacking this with such intensity," said Jon Schaefer, the founder of the program. "We all know healthcare workers and you're like, 'Oh, man, I want to do something.'"

The collection of goggles was set in motion by Dr. Michael Halperin out of New York City. He sent an email to friends in the ski community requesting 300 pairs each for three emergency departments. They were in urgent need as they dealt with the coronavirus, which causes mild or moderate symptoms for most but can include fever, cough and sometimes pneumonia requiring hospitalization.

His email was forwarded to Schaefer, the general manager of the Catamount (New York) and Berkshire East (Massachusetts) ski areas.

It hit home. Schaefer's ski resorts were among the first to close in the U.S. to help contain the spread of the virus. His wife also is in the healthcare field.

PYEONGCHANG-GUN, SOUTH KOREA - FEBRUARY 20: A detailed view into an athletes goggles during the Freestyle Skiing Men's Ski Halfpipe Qualification on day eleven of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Phoenix Snow Park on February 20, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)

He was eager to help. Same with the community. They gathered quite a few.

"Basically, I was like, 'I should do him a favor, and try to prevent him from getting about 10,000 goggles shipped to his back porch,'" Schaefer said.

So he organized a spreadsheet. From there, he received help from Inntopia, a destination analytics platform that helps keep up-to-date tabs on distribution. And from there, he picked up plenty of support through donations sparked by social media.

 

Another example of industries lending a hand to the medical community:

— Bauer, the company that normally makes hockey equipment, began making thousands of face shields.

— Fanatics, the company that manufactures uniforms for Major League Baseball, has suspended production on jerseys and is instead using the polyester mesh fabric to make masks and gowns for hospitals in Pennsylvania and nearby states.

— NASCAR began using the 3D printers at its North Carolina research center to make face masks.

Face shields are displayed before being sterilised and sent to health workers for use against the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus in Kuala Lumpur on April 7, 2020. (Photo by Mohd RASFAN / AFP) (Photo by MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)

"In times like this we should help each other and support each other," said Gasser, who took home gold when Big Air made its Olympic debut in Pyeongchang. "These goggles were just in my closet. It's better it helps someone else."

Freeskier Michelle Parker, who's from Squaw Valley, California, found about 10 pairs around the house that she's donating.

"Anything we can do to help out," said Parker. "These random acts of kindness go a long way to help our communities — and our own personal morality, too."

Anon Goggles global business director Mark Wakeling and a group of employees recently swapped out the mirrored lenses for clear ones on goggles before shipping. That way, the patients could better see their health-care providers.

BEIJING, CHINA - JANUARY 31: A Chinese woman wears a protective mask and swimming goggles after getting off a train as she and others return from the Spring Festival holiday on January 31, 2020 in Beijing, China. The number of cases of a deadly new coronavirus rose to almost 9700 in mainland China Friday, the day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global public health emergency. China continued to lock down the city of Wuhan in an effort to contain the spread of the pneumonia-like disease which medical experts have confirmed can be passed from human to human. In an unprecedented move, Chinese authorities have put travel restrictions on the city which is the epicentre of the virus and neighbouring municipalities affecting tens of millions of people. The number of those who have died from the virus in China climbed to over 213 on Friday, mostly in Hubei province, and cases have been reported in other countries including the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and several others. The World Health Organization has warned all governments to be on alert and screening has been stepped up at airports around the world. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

"We want to make it as easy as we can for these front-line people," Wakeling said. "We all just want to get through this."

Another goggles manufacturer, Scott Sports, has donated more than 3,800 pairs.

"The ski community rallies around all kinds of efforts," said Andrew Putt, the U.S. marketing manager for the company. "It was time for us as a global community to band together."

Gross assembled a goggles care sheet for those using them. One thing he heavily emphasized — no need to discard the goggles after each use.

A man wearing a breathing mask and ski goggles takes part in an anti-facist demonstration on April 16, 2017 in Paris, on the eve of a campaign meeting of French presidential election candidate for the far-right Front National (FN) party that is to take place at the nearby Zenith venue. / AFP PHOTO / GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT (Photo credit should read GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images)

"They're durable," Gross said. "Use them more than once. Use them for the entire duration."

The goggles can work for all kinds of health workers, too, from the anesthesiologist to the operating room surgeon to the floor nurse.

Marcia Glass, an associate professor of internal medicine at Tulane University, has used the goggles while treating patients.

"Super helpful, much better than regular eye gear," she wrote in an email.

© 2019 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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