John Lacovara, L-28, delivers three cases of N-95 masks to Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, where his daughter Lauren Lacovara (pictured) works.
In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, proper personal protective equipment was especially hard to come by—even for the front-line medical workers who were dealing daily, hands-on and face-to-face, with infected patients.
So, when Boilermaker John Lacovara, Local 28 (Newark, New Jersey), heard that Nooter Construction had N-95 masks and was offering them to workers to donate, he leapt at the chance to get a stash to Cooper Hospital in Camden, New Jersey.
Lacovara has a very special interest in the safety of medical workers at Cooper Hospital: His daughter, Lauren Lacovara, is a physician’s assistant in that hospital’s emergency department.
“Nooter Construction had a bunch of N-95 masks, so they asked if we had any family who were working in the medical field who needed the masks,” Lacovara says. “They knew there were a couple of us who have sisters and daughters who are nurses, and other relatives working in medicine.”
Lacovara says they delivered masks to about four hospitals, including three cases of masks to Cooper Hospital.
“The hospitals were really happy—this was when it was really hard to get PPE,” he says. “This was Nooter’s idea, and it feels good to help people.”
