Photographer Starts Grassroots Appreciation Drive For Hospital Staff

By COLlive reporter

Chana Blumes-Geisinsky, a professional photographer from Crown Heights, Brooklyn, knows what it’s like to have a loved one in the hospital during the coronavirus pandemic and the stress and worry to the patient’s family members.

Her own father-in-law was admitted to NYU Hospital in Manhattan 3 weeks ago with the virus, and his family was so thankful for the compassionate care that he was receiving from the hospital staff, even while overwhelmed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Blumes says she wanted to find a way to show the staff the family’s appreciation, especially since they were not able to be there in person due to restrictions on visitation during coronavirus. Once she got a glimpse into what was going on in the hospital, she was amazed by the dedication and selflessness of the doctors, nurses and entire medical staff.

“It’s literally a war zone in there,” she says. “These are the soldiers on the front lines. I wanted to show appreciation for these amazing people.”

Blumes began organizing and sending deliveries of food, drinks, and snacks to the staff at the hospital. Reaching out to her followers on social media, Blumes got the word out on her initiative, and donations began to come in from people around the world who wanted to be a part of it.

What started with sending a delivery of food and snacks to one floor at NYU, soon began to grow, as family members of patients on other floors at the hospital began asking her to send deliveries to the floors that were caring for their loved ones to show their appreciation and gratitude.

Now, even with her father-in-law recovered and back home, Blumes still spends her days and nights organizing the project, keeping track of donations, keeping in touch with patients’ families, getting the best price possible for the deliveries, and even going to the hospital entrance lobby on some days, to ensure the deliveries are all in order.

The project takes up many hours each day, with Blumes sending deliveries to 10 floors in the hospital with grateful thanks from as many as 21 families from many locations and all walks of life, such as Brooklyn’s Crown Heights, Boro Park, Flatbush, Mill Basin, and Williamsburg neighborhoods, as well as Monsey and the Five Towns. She is being helped by devoted volunteer Rivkah Albukerk, who also makes the deliveries when needed.

The deliveries contain snacks, treats and pick-me-ups such as a variety of iced drinks, smoothies, chocolates, protein cookies, and meals. Funded by donations, the project costs between $700 to $1,000 each day.

The staff at the hospital has been grateful for the daily deliveries.

“I just wanted to say THANK YOU!” one nurse wrote. “I can’t tell you how much it’s appreciated and makes us feel loved which goes such a long way these days. It’s amazing to see how much goodness and kindness there is! Let me know if you need help on your awesome mission.”

Another wrote: “I’m a Jewish nurse here, and I just wanted to say thank you so much for all that you have sent! We appreciate it so much. And as another Jewish person, I just want you to know how much of a kiddush HaShem you are doing representing the entire Jewish people! It really means a lot.”

All food is purchased at small local establishments in an effort to support small businesses, such as Cafe Chocolat in the Five Towns. They’ve also expanded to occasionally send Kosher dinner for Jewish staff.

They have also sent chocolate baskets and flowers for the weekend, as well as little spa packages as a special treat.

The families of the patients have expressed what a great help it has been to them, knowing that they can be calm knowing that the staff is being shown appreciation on their behalf.

“Our father is a patient in the NYU Langone ICU,” one family wrote. “We are so deeply appreciative of Chana for setting up the deliveries to the nurses. We are finding that these deliveries are making a true difference. The hard-working staff, nurses, and doctors are truly feeling the appreciation that they so deserve. She is helping us take care of the people who are taking care of our dad. Also, we are finding that the nurses are attaching names and faces to our family, and feeling the community of love that is standing behind our dad. We are so grateful to Chana for taking this off our plates, and for taking on such an important and impactful role for us,” they said.

The new friendships that Blumes formed while running this project has helped many families, and had an amazing outcome for the family of R’ Yosef Baruch Jacobowitz, a businessman from Brooklyn.

After his passing, his family was desperately searching for his Tefillin, which had been with him in the hospital but did not have any name on it for identification. One of his family members reached out to Blumes to see if she could help.

“I contacted a nurse that I know, and she was able to locate them within minutes,” she said. “You can imagine how grateful the family was to the medical staff for their help when they received the precious tefillin.”

To donate to the effort, Cashapp $chanablumes
Paypal / quickpay [email protected]
Follow Chana on instagram at @instagram/chanablumesphoto