Fine jewelry retailer J.R. Dunn Jewelers, based in Lighthouse Point, Fla., showed its appreciation for health care workers during the coronavirus pandemic by giving away 200 pearl bracelets to nurses and doctors.
In a social media giveaway, which debuted March 27, the retailer asked users on Facebook and Instagram to tag nurses and doctors they personally know who are working with COVID-19 patients. The company gifted the first 200 tagged health care worker with a freshwater cultured pearl Honora Hope bracelet. Within three days, all 200 of the bracelets were claimed and shipped to health care workers around the country.
“The doctors and nurses are putting their patients’ needs first, and it really hit home the sacrifices they’re making for all of us,” says company vice president Sean Dunn.
Dunn says the idea for the social media giveaway was inspired by a local ICU nurse at Broward Health, Mary McNerney, who wrote a Facebook post about how the shortage of N95 masks was affecting her and her hospital.
McNerney wrote about how scared and desperate she felt because of the mask shortage she and her team are experiencing: “In the wake of the mask shortage, Broward Health has had to limit our use of the N95 respirator masks we use to care for COVID-19 patients,” she wrote. “Recently, we are ONLY allowed to use this mask if we are doing a procedure where droplet particles could be dispersed. May I remind you, these particles can be dispersed while we’re NOT doing a procedure like when a patient coughs or sneezes. We are told to use a ‘simple mask,’ like what you can purchase at the drugstore. This does not seal around a health care provider’s face as the N95s do and by no means provides protection against these airborne particles!”
The team at J.R. Dunn was moved by McNerney’s post, and though they didn’t have masks to send, “We wanted to do something to lift spirits and let them know they are appreciated,” Dunn says. Each bracelet was shipped with a handwritten thank-you note from Ann Marie Dunn, co-owner of J.R. Dunn Jewelers.
The giveaway is a great example of what jewelers, who are “nonessential” right now, can do to support those embroiled in the COVID-19 fight. Lifting spirits with a beautiful gift is no small thing right now. We also love that after all the bracelets were claimed, the team at J.R. Dunn continued to respond to those who tagged nurses and doctors, informing them the giveaway was over, thanking them for all they do, and imploring them to “stay safe!”
Top: The Honora bracelet, in white pearls, jewelry retailer J.R. Dunn gave to 200 frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic (photo courtesy of J.R. Dunn)
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