UPDATE: Serta has launched “Stay Home, Send Beds,” a program that will facilitate bed donations for hospitals and temporary medical facilities nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic. Visitors to www.SertaReliefBed.com can purchase up to 10,000 beds to be distributed in the city of their choosing.
For every 25 beds donated through “Stay Home, Send Beds,” Serta will donate an additional bed on top of the 10,000 mattresses it committed to New York City hospitals on March 26. Those beds are currently in production and will begin shipping this week.
The need for hospital beds is significant. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the University of Washington, 41 states will require more hospital beds than they currently have available due to the spread of the coronavirus.
“At times like these, we all have to ask ourselves what we can do to help,” said David Swift, Serta Simmons Bedding chairman/CEO. “Serta Simmons Bedding understands the importance of giving back to those in need with the resources we have available, and we hope to encourage our fellow citizens and our fellow bedding manufacturers to do the same.”
All donations are being facilitated through a collaboration with Relief Bed International, a nonprofit organization that provides beds to impoverished people and disaster victims around the world.
Serta Simmons Donates 10,000 Mattresses to NYC Hospitals
Serta Simmons Bedding (SSB) will donate 10,000 mattresses to New York City hospitals and temporary medical facilities fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the healthcare system’s shortages of masks and ventilators have been heavily publicized, bedding is also expected to soon be dangerously scarce as the coronavirus spreads and hospitalizations surge. That is particularly the case in New York, where Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said the state would soon require as many as 140,000 additional hospital beds; it currently has 53,000 in use.
Beyond its 10,000 mattress donation, SSB also offered additional assistance, noting that its factories and expansive distribution network are capable of producing up to 20,000 beds per day at the lowest possible cost if needed.
“As the largest American producer of mattresses, Serta Simmons Bedding is committed to ensuring those who are hospitalized have a bed available where they can receive care and heal,” SSB Chairman and CEO David Swift said. “We’re calling on our peers in the bedding industry to join us in addressing this need.”
SSB’s donation, which is valued at $2 million, is being facilitated through its relationship with Relief Bed International, a nonprofit organization that provides beds to impoverished people and disaster victims around the world.
