University of Maryland Medical System Foundation Inc

We are Lactation Consultants in Baltimore City at University of Maryland working to support the breastfeeding goals of our patients. Many of the Moms that come through our doors have no insurance, or are not eligible for a breastpump through certain Medicaid plans. We are fundraising so we can offer our Moms the power to feed their babies breastmilk. Especially now, in this time of medical crisis, it is especially important that Moms can provide immune boosting milk to their babies. 

Many Moms have difficulties establishing breastfeeding, which can impact supply.  Some babies have a hard time latching for a variety of reasons. When breastfeeding is not going well, having a breastpump available ensures success when Moms go home. Please help us provide 100 breastpumps to our Moms! Breast pumps are $75 each at cost.

We already know that the U.S has become the epicenter of COVID-19 pandemic, and the healthcare system has been continuously challenged by the overwhelming situation. Unfortunately, frontline workers are now operating in highly infectious environments despite lacking adequate personal protective equipment (PPE).

University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) is with no exception as it’s one of the largest tertiary care providers in the region and has been receiving severe patients transferred from surrounding smaller hospitals. In such urgent circumstances, we’ve reached out to medical staff from the UMMC, who have informed us that they are facing a shortage of 80,000 masks this month, which is after the implementation of aggressive conservation/reuse measures.

Luhan Tang and I, 2019 MBA graduates, initiated this UMD4Masks campaign, aiming to collect as much funding as we can to purchase FDA verified surgical masks from reliable sources through our alumni network in China and deliver them to UMMC directly. We are coordinating this effort with Dr. Lydia Tang at UMMC who is on their team focused on community based PPE efforts.

Now, Luhan and her team have already raised over $5,000 from Chinese alumni and 10,000 masks now are on their way to the U.S. We are still far from our final target, but we hope to collect at least another 10,000 masks by the end of this week.

UMMC needs your help to overcome this tough time, lets get some PPEs for those heroes who are risking their lives to combat this virus!

Amit Puri