The Motion Picture & Television Fund is seeking matching contributions to double the $250,000 pledged by the John and Marilyn Wells Family Foundation to help defray the cost of PPE and food for caregivers at its skilled nursing home in Woodland Hills, where six residents have died of Covid-19. Several caregivers have also contracted the virus, though none has died. The donations also will go toward the general upkeep of the facility’s coronavirus care unit.
John Wells, the Emmy-winning writer-producer of ER and The West Wing, is a member of the MPTF Board of Governors and a former WGA West president. “We have to pull together to get through these difficult times and show we’re a community that cares about our coworkers!” he said in a statement.
Robert Jensen, materials manager director at the MPTF, made an impassioned appeal to the industry today for assistance. “If I were going to say something to you, to the people who care about MPTF it would be to say we need your help; we need your donations. This disaster is monumental. But it’s not bigger than us, if we all pitch in.”
In a mass email to supporters, Jensen wrote: “Months ago, when this whole thing was just a whisper, before the quarantines and before the general public was walking around with face masks, we decided to stand up an isolation wing on our campus. Just in case. It was done with urgency and it was expensive. That decision proved to be more prescient than we could have known. 17 of our residents have been treated there. And it’s been a new world every day since: new protocols, new systems, more layers of protective gear, additional staffing with pay premiums. The needs keep coming, the prices keep rising, and the invoices are more substantial with each passing week.”
He provided these as examples of just how expensive it is to keep the facility going:
One long-sleeved disposable gown: $3-10.25/per One gallon jug of hand sanitizer: $150/per One box of disposable masks: $50/per Iso wing entry: disposable gown, boot covers, gloves, head cover, N-95 mask, and face shield for each patients’ room entry: 12x/day, per patient, $8.25 each entry: $1,386/day Iso wing setup: facilities air systems, plumbing, electrical, inventory supplies, computers, WiFi, phones, medical equipment, bed rentals: $96,000
250 meals a day for employees alone: $7/per
“Line by line, it may not seem like much,” he wrote, “but when you take these simple numbers and multiply them by the need and the stakes, it’s been like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”...
John Wells, the Emmy-winning writer-producer of ER and The West Wing, is a member of the MPTF Board of Governors and a former WGA West president. “We have to pull together to get through these difficult times and show we’re a community that cares about our coworkers!” he said in a statement.
Robert Jensen, materials manager director at the MPTF, made an impassioned appeal to the industry today for assistance. “If I were going to say something to you, to the people who care about MPTF it would be to say we need your help; we need your donations. This disaster is monumental. But it’s not bigger than us, if we all pitch in.”
In a mass email to supporters, Jensen wrote: “Months ago, when this whole thing was just a whisper, before the quarantines and before the general public was walking around with face masks, we decided to stand up an isolation wing on our campus. Just in case. It was done with urgency and it was expensive. That decision proved to be more prescient than we could have known. 17 of our residents have been treated there. And it’s been a new world every day since: new protocols, new systems, more layers of protective gear, additional staffing with pay premiums. The needs keep coming, the prices keep rising, and the invoices are more substantial with each passing week.”
He provided these as examples of just how expensive it is to keep the facility going:
One long-sleeved disposable gown: $3-10.25/per One gallon jug of hand sanitizer: $150/per One box of disposable masks: $50/per Iso wing entry: disposable gown, boot covers, gloves, head cover, N-95 mask, and face shield for each patients’ room entry: 12x/day, per patient, $8.25 each entry: $1,386/day Iso wing setup: facilities air systems, plumbing, electrical, inventory supplies, computers, WiFi, phones, medical equipment, bed rentals: $96,000
250 meals a day for employees alone: $7/per
“Line by line, it may not seem like much,” he wrote, “but when you take these simple numbers and multiply them by the need and the stakes, it’s been like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”...
- 4/25/2020
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: It was touch and go for a while as the Woolsey Fire bore down on the Motion Picture & Television Fund’s Wasserman Campus in Woodland Hills, home to nearly 200 entertainment industry retirees. The campus was spared, but on the afternoon of November 9, with the blaze only five miles away and barreling towards them, the situation looked dire. Heroic action was needed, and heroic action was taken by the staff and volunteers.
“Prompt action was required,” Mptf president and CEO Bob Beitcher wrote in an account of those harrowing hours. “Nearly 200 entertainment industry residents were evacuated to safer locations by a team of administrators manning an incident command center – including heroes like Joseph Rich, Robert Jensen, and Linda Healy – and an outstanding group of Mptf employees from nursing, hospitality, activities, media center, and environmental services, along with volunteers and spouses.”
“I get chills when I talk about it,” Beitcher told Deadline.
“Prompt action was required,” Mptf president and CEO Bob Beitcher wrote in an account of those harrowing hours. “Nearly 200 entertainment industry residents were evacuated to safer locations by a team of administrators manning an incident command center – including heroes like Joseph Rich, Robert Jensen, and Linda Healy – and an outstanding group of Mptf employees from nursing, hospitality, activities, media center, and environmental services, along with volunteers and spouses.”
“I get chills when I talk about it,” Beitcher told Deadline.
- 12/5/2018
- by David Robb
- Deadline Film + TV
Consumers and businesses, voters and politicians, and readers and writers today are caught up in the social media wave. There is no escaping the magnetic pull the Web, and sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have over our everyday existence. We continue to hear about the diminishing importance and relevance of traditional media channels--namely TV, radio and print. There is sort of an air of inevitability about it all. Old media will give way to new and the World will be better, more peaceful and prosperous for it.
But a provocative new research paper boldly challenges this worldview. Perhaps even more striking than its finding on media usage around the world is how the research reveals a dynamic that John Edwards--he of "Two Americas"--might appreciate. We live (and consume media) in Two Worlds: The Internet-ascendant minority world (Us & Europe), and the TV-ascendant majority World (The Developing World).
Charles Kenny,...
But a provocative new research paper boldly challenges this worldview. Perhaps even more striking than its finding on media usage around the world is how the research reveals a dynamic that John Edwards--he of "Two Americas"--might appreciate. We live (and consume media) in Two Worlds: The Internet-ascendant minority world (Us & Europe), and the TV-ascendant majority World (The Developing World).
Charles Kenny,...
- 12/2/2009
- by Kevin Randall
- Fast Company
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.