Got masks? DSHS’ Economic Services Administration donates their surplus to agency institutions

Release Date: 
May 01, 2020

“Working in emergency management, I know how important these supplies are to our clients’ and employees’ safety,” explained Shaun Sullivan

masksMedical facilities in Washington state and across the globe have been inundated while combating COVID-19, making personal protective equipment, or PPE, at a premium. Even the Department of Social and Health Services has felt the squeeze at its 24/7 facilities – state-run psychiatric hospitals and facilities for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities – where the agency has limited distribution of PPE to only those staff, residents and patients for whom the state’s Department of Health guidelines determine PPE is required.

Staff in the DSHS Economic Services Administration, which manages public benefits programs like Basic Food and cash assistance, thought to check its offices’ emergency supplies of equipment at their dozens of offices across the state. Lo and behold, they found more than 1,000 N95 masks at various locations, including 900 in the Region One (eastern Washington) fire season supplies. ESA quickly shipped the supplies to DSHS headquarters in Olympia and the masks are now being sent to DSHS institutions.

“Working in emergency management, I know how important these supplies are to our clients’ and employees’ safety,” explained Shaun Sullivan, business and infrastructure lead program manager for the agency’s Community Services Division. “We’re happy to be able to support our DSHS partners on the facility frontlines.”

“Our gratitude goes out to the good folks at ESA for their thoughtfulness and generosity,” said Sean Murphy, assistant secretary for DSHS’ Behavioral Health Administration and incident commander for the agency’s institutions Emergency Operations Center. “This truly exemplifies the DSHS spirit of unity in our shared mission of transforming lives.”