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SAN ANTONIO
MEDICINE

Many Hands,

Many Masks,

One Mission

By Christopher Ruano

I t was January 21, 2020, and I vividly recall reading an online article

about our Nation’s first case of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). It was
a day unlike any other – this one felt strangely ominous, somewhat
distant, but quite real. I began to think about how we as a people would
respond to this invisible, rapidly spreading pathogen that was spiraling
into what would soon become a global pandemic. I began to rationalize
these rapidly unfolding events through the lens of our shared American
experience: I knew that we would rise to this occasion and help one
another, because we have done it so many times before throughout his-
tory. After all, we are the people who reached the Moon, who liberated for Emergency Response (SAFER Texas). Working directly with pri-
the oppressed in World War II, and who, despite our many growing vate sector donors, the team quickly gathered significant personal pro-
pains and stumbles along the way, are at our core, decent and honorable tective equipment (PPE) contributions from the home improvement
people. Once again, Americans from all walks of life stood up and an- and construction industries, thus setting the stage for what was to be-
swered the call, but this time it would be different. Much different. This come a large donation influx from various private sources in the coming
time we would face down an invisible enemy that knew neither bound- weeks and months ahead.
aries nor limitations. To borrow the famous words of Apollo 13 Com- The SAFER team also spent a great deal of time coordinating large
mander, James "Jim" Lovell, “Houston, we’ve had a problem”. pallets of PPE from the Texas Division of Emergency Management
My name is Christopher Ruano – I am a US Army veteran and pres- (TDEM), by way of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council
ent-day Threat Intelligence Advisor with over 20 years of global opera- (STRAC). The first few weeks of the program also saw a steady stream
tional experience. Although, I have been with the BCMS PPE Donation of medical student volunteers, who donated their free time away from
Program since its inception in early April 2020 and have since directed classes and exams, to deliver hundreds of boxes of PPE to medical clin-
and worked in every facet of the program as a contractor, this short story ics across the greater San Antonio area. It is fair to say that this critically
is not about me. Rather, it is about how public and private community timed coordination saved countless lives and protected hundreds of
stakeholders banded together to respond to what would soon become frontline medical personnel, who individually on many
a national emergency and felt more locally as a critical shortage of PPE occasions, warmly thanked the students in person, by phone and by
supplies for underserved medical clinics, and the public at large. Further, email for their strenuous efforts.
it is a first-hand account that seeks to properly recognize the countless The first several months of the program were incredibly busy, and
people who have helped to make this program a model in public-private this meant that the BCMS conference room would soon be repurposed
emergency response cooperation in a time of great need. as a storage facility for N-95 masks, surgical masks, Level IV gowns,
The BCMS PPE Program was started in April 2020 by a small group coveralls, eye protection and other protective equipment. Thanks to
of bright, ambitious and publicly focused medical students, who saw Melody Newsom, present-day CEO (then Chief Operating Officer) of
the immediate need to get involved in the COVID-19 response. BCMS, the timely decision to take in one million PPE articles into
Of noteworthy mention: Gwendolyn Quintana (now MD), Yvette storage was made, and as a result, the program’s sustainability was
Lopez and Kayla Pineda, who went on to form the Student Alliance etched into stone – this time at scale. We were now truly ready, willing,

38 SAN ANTONIO MEDICINE • December 2022