Celebrities donate own folding beds so hospital frontliners can catch up sleep amid Covid-19 crisis
Top actress Angel Locsin and businessman fiancé Neil Arce have successfully rounded up donations from fellow showbiz celebrities to provide doctors, nurses and other health workers designated areas around their hospitals for what little rest they can manage in caring for the rising number of Covid-infected patients in Metro Manila.
It was only on Saturday, March 21 when Locsin and Arce—with assistance from their wedding planners at events company La Belle Fete—posted a video slideshow on Instagram specifically asking for folding beds, items owned by most actors to use in between takes during taping or shooting.
With TV shows and movie productions on hold as well for the duration of the Luzon-wide quarantine, Locsin knew fellow celebrities could easily lend their folding beds and throw in some pillows for an idea she and Arce took their local government of Taguig City for approval and assistance.
Locsin called on fellow showbiz celebrities to donate folding beds they commonly use at tapings and shootings for use by doctors and nurses.
“As you all know, our health workers are putting their lives on the line while saving lives,” Locsin wrote on IG. Calling them “our modern heroes,” the actress pointed out the “challenging, grueling and extremely exhausting” commute health workers have to make during their off hours, not to mention the mental and physical stress they endure on duty.
“To my friends in the industry, maybe you can spare your taping beds for our health workers? Also to everyone reading this, if you have available folding beds that we could borrow, we would greatly appreciate it. We’ll name the bed after the donor and you could also write down a note to thank them for their hard work,” Locsin furthered.
As of this writing, celebrities who have already donated their taping beds include Anne Curtis, Bea Alonzo, Angelica Panganiban, Paulo Avelino, Vice Ganda, Ryza Cenon, Pocholo Barretto and Arlene Muhlach. Lorna Tolentino and Ria Atayde meanwhile donated pillows and additional mattresses.
As the donations came in, Locsin and Arce proceeded with mounting air-conditioned tents along the route Taguig City’s free shuttle for health workers take every day, specifically The Lakeshore Tent and the stops at C6 and Lower Bicutan. Each tent was made more homey with lights and curtain installations by top event stylist Gideon Hermosa and completed with overnight kits and trash bins from Nice Print Photo.
A well thought-out plan, Locsin further set up reception tables in front of each sleeping tent where Taguig City welfare workers are now stationed, all wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) to check on hospital staffers who go in and out for everyone’s safety.
Dubbed a real life “Darna” for being a superhero in times of national calamities, posts of gratitude have poured in for the actress and her fiancé and across uploaded pictures of celebrity folding beds in the resting tents, all of which have already been turned over to the local government to run.
As soon as she completed the project, Locsin took to Instagram anew on March 25 to announce a new funding campaign called #UniTENTweStandPH, this time to help solve the overcrowding of patients in both private and public hospitals. Through the website gogetfunding.com, the goal of the new project is to set up tents to accommodate more patients while at the same time, seeing to the safety of health workers in terms of space.
“I have avoided asking for financial donations [before] but for now, it is best that we gather more resources and funding to be able to widen the reach, service and sustainability of this project. I would appreciate anything you can offer for this cause to help our fellow Filipinos survive this difficult time,” the actress wrote.
Locsin’s post elaborated they plan on setting up two tents each in seven hospitals, namely South City Hospital and Medical Center in Bacoor, Cavite; Las Piñas Doctors Hospital and Las Piñas City Medical Center; St. Frances Cabrini Hospital and Medical Center in Sto. Tomas, Batangas; UniHealth Parañaque Hospital and Medical Center, Binakayan Hospital and Medical Center in Kawit, Cavite; and PNP Hospital.
Based on experience setting up the health workers’ tents in Taguig City, Locsin and her team have estimated each tent to cost P50,000. Once mounted and completed in the seven hospitals, they hope to expand the project in Luzon and other parts of the country.
Using the hashtag #HealTheWorld, Locsin raised more spirits and roused more do-gooders to come out, finally writing, “We acknowledge that this is a challenging time for everyone, but we also know that we, Filipinos, are strong & resilient, especially when united. We made it through Ondoy, Yolanda, Mt. Pinatubo and Taal eruption, and we will surely overcome this as a nation. This is a plea to everyone to support our dear frontliners. Let’s help them save lives!”