CHESTER COUNTY, PA — Downingtown East Alumni, Shreya Mitra, currently at Northeastern University, and Riya Mitra, a Downingtown STEM Academy student, are working with a 501c3 non-profit called TeleHealth Access for Seniors in Pennsylvania, which is helping with COVID-19 relief by connecting elderly patients with access to digital medical care by providing them with donated devices.
Due to COVID-19, most healthcare facilities are switching to telemedicine/telehealth and a lot of low-income elderly patients do not have access to the proper devices to receive care. The organization has donated over 200 devices to practices and VA’s all over the country, with volunteers in 20 states.
Riya and Shreya brought this cause to Philadelphia, partnering with the Philadelphia Veteran’s Affair Medical Center to provide Philly veterans with devices to receive medical care.
They need to collect over 250 devices and are looking for residents in Chester County and the Philadelphia regional area to donate any old devices (iPads, iPhones, Androids, Laptops, etc.) and device chargers to help keep elderly patients safe and healthy.
If people do not have any devices, they can still help by donating to their GoFundMe to raise money for necessary supplies such as shipping to VAs, packaging, purchasing chargers, and purchasing refurbished devices.
The organization has now expanded to 24 states, has 85 volunteers, has raised $12,000, and is helping over a thousand patients with over 650 devices donated so far.
Their idea is simple: “We contact clinics in major need of devices, like VA hospitals and geriatric clinics, have volunteers collect devices, purchase chargers using monetary donations, and send the devices to the clinics to be handed out to patients.”
In fact, the organization is now regional partners with the entire Northeastern VA system to provide them with devices.
Donate by visiting the website and filling out the device drop form or by directly contacting telehealthforseniors@gmail.com and stating your area and what devices you have.
Website link: https://www.telehealthforseniors.org
Device Drop Link: https://forms.gle/8oZT8KxfRvarteVo8
GoFundMe: https://tinyurl.com/Telehealth-GoFundMe
Donation collection will be through shipping or drop-off/pick-up to maintain social distancing measures put in place.
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This is a really great cause, glad to see our youth getting engaged in the community!