By Alex Witrago, Editorial Intern
Soccer fans often raise their favorite players as heroes, but to Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham, the real heroes are on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The sports star celebrated National Nurses’ Week, on May 6, by partnering with El Barrio Tacos to provide 70 taco bowls to the emergency department, intensive care unit and respiratory care team.
“We had an outpour of support as you know to health care workers around the country and unbelievable amounts of donations from restaurants,” said Megan Martinez, a spokeswoman for Dignity Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center. “David actually is a very humble genuine man. His father is a retired police officer and his sister is actually an emergency room nurse who works in Georgia.”
Bingham has donated more than 250 meals to front line workers including the Redondo Beach Police Department.
“Because of social distancing we couldn’t have everyone out and we couldn’t necessarily have him (Bingham) inside the hospital,” Martinez said. “We did it out front of the hospital but it was very heartwarming. He passed out lunches to the emergency department team, intensive care unit team and our respiratory therapist team; the leaders of those departments were outside to receive the delivery.
Martinez said St. Mary’s Medical Center has been treating patients who are positive for COVID-19. However, she was not able to disclose the number of cases at the center. According to data from the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, as of May 15, Long Beach reported a total of 1,214 cases of COVID-19, with 56 people hospitalized, 51 people who have died and 768 people recovered.