Throughout the pandemic, much attention has been paid to the plight of essential workers, especially those in the healthcare industry. Nurses and doctors have been overwhelmed for nearly two years now, both mentally and physically, having to work long hours dealing with thousands of COVID ridden patients. Even more, those employees have been the ones who are most likely to catch COVID, adding to the mental and physical struggle. Due to that, there have been many expressions of appreciation towards healthcare workers over the last few years. One Canisius student, Rhondaja Howard, has taken that appreciation to a whole new level, helping to found a company early in the pandemic that provides inexpensive medical wear to nurses.
The company, Med Diva Scrubs, was started early in the pandemic. Howard said, “I started two years ago because I noticed how bad COVID was getting and how expensive scrubs were. They were going for at least $100 or more.” The premise of the company addresses just this: to sell comfortable, fashionable scrubs at an affordable price. Scrubs are the traditional attire that are worn by hospital workers, and since the pandemic have begun to be worn by people in other professions that bring them close to people. They are designed to be less susceptible to helping the spread of germs, and to be worn in a sterile environment. They also can be, as mentioned before, fairly expensive.
Medical workers had enough on their hands than to have to worry about expensive apparel, so Howard tackled the problem head on. “I started selling [scrubs] for $30,” she said. “And that was a great price for everybody.” The business sells mainly to members of the Buffalo community, but through their website have been able to sell to people elsewhere. Howard said “I’ve definitely been growing. My website has helped with that.” Additionally, within the Buffalo community itself the business has been growing. Howard has signed a contract with Buffalo General Hospital, as well as one to advertise on the radio station 93.7 WBLK.
The business’ website is meddivascrubsny.com, and Rhondaja is on Facebook at Rhondaja Denine. It is businesses like these that have provided much relief to essential workers in the midst of a stressful time for them.
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