Rep. Harley Rouda Delivers PPE to Fountain Valley Medical Center

One Southern California lawmaker, Representative Harley Rouda, of Newport Beach, said health officials have been constantly reaching out to him for just that. Rouda said health officials around his area on the coast of Orange County have reached out to his office every day with concerns for not having enough protective gear.

He said because he felt the call wasn’t being answered fast enough by the White House, he decided to take it upon himself and his office to find a solution. 

Friday, Rouda made a special delivery to MemorialCare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley. He showed up with thousands of gloves, hundreds of face masks, respirators, and other equipment to help healthcare workers and patients.

“We decided to take matters into our own hands,” Rouda said. “So we just simply set up on our website for a place and had two forms and one form said, 'What do you need,' and marked the boxes and another form said 'What do you have,' and marked the boxes. And basically we married those two together.”

It’s something, he said, that could be a recurring situation. 

“Whether we need to continue this will really depend on whether the federal government will step in and do the role they should have been doing all along from this administration, which is coordinating the efforts of PPEs across the nation and as long as there are gaps to fill, we will do our best to try and fill them,” Rouda said.