In-kind donations to healthcare facilities during COVID-19: Experiences from a large medical center in northern Taiwan.

BACKGROUND: In early 2020, a global outbreak of 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused high mortality rates and public panic. Worldwide demand for personal protective equipment has risen, with diminishing supplies and shortages reported. During the pandemic, charitable donations have been made by the public, aimed at helping medical staff. Based on the open data, we investigate the charitable in-kind donations received by a large medical center in northern Taiwan (Taipei Veterans General Hospital [TPEVGH]) in Taiwan during the pandemic. METHODS: The period of investigation was the first half of the year 2020. TPEVGH has received various public donations. The list of donations published on the hospital's official website was analyzed. The variables in the analysis were donation category, donation percentage, number of donations, and total donation amount. RESULTS: Most in-kind donations were food and beverages (55.1%), with a monetary value of 3 124 510 New Taiwan Dollars (NTD) (24.3%). Medical equipment accounted for the second-highest number of items (34.8%) but was the highest monetary value (70.6%; 9 275 945 of 12 875 855 NTD). Daily necessities accounted for the lowest number of items (10.1%) and had a total monetary value of 475 400 NTD (3.7%). Over two-thirds were beverages (68.4%), all of which were bottles or cans for easy storage. Despite only five items (13.2%) being juice, the donation size was the largest, accounting for nearly half (47.1%) of the total monetary value. Only one item was fruit, which was high-class organic apples. The monetary value of this item was the highest (7.8%) among all donated food. Most donated snacks were biscuits. CONCLUSION: During the COVID-19 pandemic, most public donations to TPEVGH were food and daily necessities. While every donation should be appreciated, accepting high volumes of donations might incur donation management problems. Further research could be focused on managerial aspects, for example, quality and safety checking, storage, and distribution.

Optical Properties of Mg, Fe, Co-Doped Near-Stoichiometric LiTaO3 Single Crystals.

Mg, Fe co-doped near-stoichiometric lithium tantalite (SLT) single crystals were grown by employing the zone-leveling Czochralski (ZLCz) technique. The optical properties, holographic parameters, as well as the composition of the grown crystals were measured. It was found that the Li/Ta ratio decreased with the doping of Mg and Fe ions. A red shift was observed in absorption spectrum for the Mg, Fe co-doped crystals compared to the undoped and Mg-doped ones. The effect of the iron ions (Fe2+ and Fe3+) was further discussed based on the specified absorption bands. Moreover, the occupation mechanism for the defects was discussed by using the IR absorption spectrum, which was attributed to the FeTa3- defects in the highly Fe-doped crystal. In addition, the holographic parameters were also found to be improved with a higher Fe/Ta ratio in the crystals.