COVID-19 has brought us face-to-face with the vast devastation infectious disease can bring to individuals, families, communities and the world. At the same time, this unprecedented crisis has cast new light on the essential, selfless and innovative role health workers play in ensuring strong, resilient health systems for everyone, everywhere. Through HIV, Ebola, Zika, COVID-19 and more, Johnson & Johnson has backed frontline health workers. We’re grateful for all that healthcare professionals are doing during this difficult time, so we’re giving more than thanks by supporting them, their patients and their communities as they navigate the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19.
As an initial step to delivering critical support for communities and health workers on the frontlines, in March the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies and Johnson & Johnson Foundation quickly increased their commitment to the frontlines by $50 million—for a total of $300 million— guided by the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation to support and supply frontline health workers - from meals to protective equipment, extra training to mental health support. And to further support the superhuman efforts of healthcare practitioners in this time of crisis, we have enhanced this commitment in the areas of advocacy, education and training, and other contributions to holistically support the health workers who have always supported us.
Advocacy
Healthcare professionals are innovative, critical leaders on the frontlines of the global response to COVID-19. We’ve heard from many who want to share their stories and we’re helping give them a voice and a platform to show that Johnson & Johnson will never stop advocating for, elevating, and empowering them.
For over a century, Johnson & Johnson has actively engaged in fighting global outbreaks from Ebola to TB and HIV, and we recognize our work cannot move forward without the efforts of those on the frontlines. Our knowledge and experience, successes and set-backs alike, are informing everything we’re doing today to help eradicate COVID-19. That’s why our team at Johnson & Johnson won’t stop until there is a vaccine for COVID-19. To share our process with the public, including health workers around the world, we’ve launched The Road to a Vaccine, a new eight-episode educational video series, hosted by Lisa Ling, that will examine the latest efforts to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and break down the complex process of developing a vaccine, and features the healthcare practitioners driving these innovations forward.
We also introduced a special 10-episode podcast miniseries entitled “COVID-19: The Nurse Response” through our SEE YOU NOW podcast series in partnership with the American Nurses Association. The miniseries features how nurses are rapidly innovating to meet the demands of patient care during this trying time. We are also spotlighting nurse-led innovation to address global health challenges alongside stories from nurses on the frontlines through our monthly Notes on Nursing email newsletter.
Beyond the nursing community, we have launched 30 days of action and introduced #BacktheFrontline, a new campaign to collect and share through social media the multitude of actions Johnson & Johnson, its employees and its partners are taking to support frontline health workers. This includes enabling and empowering our Company’s medically trained employees to take time off to volunteer their critical skills to contribute to their local communities’ efforts to combat COVID-19.
Education and training
Understanding that knowledge is power in the fight against COVID-19, we are working with partners to provide health workers with accurate information and educational resources to equip them with the information they need to continue to provide the best possible patient care.
We established the Johnson & Johnson Institute COVID-19 Community Hub and expanded our collaboration with Advances in Surgery to connect surgeons, nurses and other healthcare professionals to critically important information from multiple public sources that’s updated in real time as this dynamic situation unfolds. Over one million healthcare providers are using this platform, demonstrating the immediate and pressing need for one-stop access to COVID-19 information and critical trainings, such as online courses regarding urgent surgery management and mechanical ventilation that 57,000 and 17,000 HCPs have completed to date respectively.
We are also a strategic partner of the #FIRSTRESPONDERSFIRST initiative that provides health workers access to actionable microsteps, online workshops, virtual training and coaching to support and sustain their health and well-being.
Additionally, in support of nurse-led innovation, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, the Society of Nurse Scientists, Innovators, Entrepreneurs, & Leaders (SONSIEL) and DevUp are hosting a free virtual hackathon, “NurseHack4Health: COVID-19” on May 15-17 to help solve COVID-19 patient care challenges by leveraging technological solutions. The virtual hackathon will bring together nurses, other healthcare professionals, tech enthusiast, engineers and others together to lend their expertise to find new ways to improve the response to COVID-19. We are also supporting the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) on the development of leadership and management training resources, Leading Through Crisis: A Resource Compendium for Nurse Leaders, for nurses on the frontlines of COVID-19.
Contributions
For many, COVID-19 has ignited a sense of purpose in the shared job ahead and we’re proud to support and partner with organizations making a difference around the world. The Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies and Johnson & Johnson Foundation have provided nearly $10 million in cash donations and sponsorships to support our communities. Recipients include organizations such as the CDC Foundation’s ALL OF US Campaign, Swiss Red Cross, Red Cross Association (China), Community Foundation of NJ Disaster Response Fund, COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, American Nurses Foundation Coronavirus Response Fund for Nurses, International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and many others.
We’re also using our know-how to help meet the pressing needs of patients, employees, communities and health systems. Several of our manufacturing sites around the world have temporarily switched capabilities to produce hand sanitizer, which is being provided to our onsite R&D, manufacturing, and distribution employees, and also donated to health and community service workers on the frontlines of care. Our global supply chain is also taking all possible measures to ensure people have access to the Johnson & Johnson medicines, devices and consumer products they depend on. Thanks to our dedicated employees around the globe and robust business continuity plans, we’re able to deliver for the one billion customers and patients who rely on our products during this unprecedented time.
Johnson & Johnson’s commitment to frontline health workers is steadfast in this time of crisis, and our message to them is clear: We’ll never stop taking care of you, just like you never stop caring for us.
Stay up-to-date on the Company’s efforts to address critical needs of health workers related to the COVID-19 pandemic at jnj.com/coronavirus.
