Hennepin EMS paramedics collecting socks to help prevent cold-weather injuries
As Minnesota heads into months of cold, snowy weather, paramedics with Hennepin Healthcare EMS in Minneapolis are once again collecting donations of winter socks.
It's an effort to prevent cold-weather foot injuries among people without shelter.
"These folks are often forced to walk constantly from place to place, looking for food, shelter, medical care, social services, that sort of thing. And these injuries can be devastating," Hennepin EMS paramedic John Sylvester said. "They can result in an ambulance ride, an ER visit, a hospital stay, potentially life-altering amputation — and long stays in rehab centers."
"We have found over the years that the easiest, quickest, and most direct way to prevent these debilitating injuries is with a new, high-quality pair of socks."
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Last year, paramedics collected more than 30,000 donations of socks, hats and gloves.
"We carry them on the ambulance, we work with our other first responder partners who also carry what we collect. We give out a tremendous amount of socks, hats and gloves through our ER system," Sylvester said. "And then we also use these donations directly to support our social service partners — so our street outreach teams in the city who are on the trains, in the camps, every night, looking for people, trying to keep people healthy."
"You can't get back on your feet if your feet are frozen," Sylvester said. "That's always our goal here, is to promote the health of people."
Donations can be made by going to the sock drive's online registries with Target or Amazon; links can also be found on the sock drive's website.
The sock drive runs through the end of December.
"New, high-quality winter socks are one of the most sought-after things that our unsheltered neighbors are looking for," Sylvester said. "It's just a little something extra that we can use to prevent really debilitating injuries in some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the state."