11 of the Best Freebies for Healthcare Workers During the Pandemic

While we’re all struggling as the situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, there’s no doubt that the nation’s healthcare workers are facing some of the biggest challenges right now. In an effort to make these heroes’ lives even slightly better, a number of companies have decided to provide some freebies for healthcare workers while the pandemic continues. 

Here’s a running list of some of those freebies — share them with any healthcare workers you know! 

Food

Starbucks — Starbucks is offering a free tall coffee (brewed or iced) to all police officers, firefighters, paramedics, doctors, nurses, hospital staff, and researchers. (Check to make sure your local Starbucks is open first.)

White Castle — White Castle is offering a free Castle Combo to all healthcare workers and EMTs (just show your ID to receive the offer).

Krispy Kreme — Krispy Kreme is providing a dozen free Original Glazed donuts to healthcare workers every Monday through May 11. Show employer badge to redeem order.

McDonald’s  — Some McDonald’s locations are offering either free breakfast meals or free coffee to healthcare workers. Check with your individual location to see their offers.

Cumberland Farms — Cumberland Farms is offering free coffee to “healthcare workers, first responders, and military personnel including police officers, firefighters, active military, paramedics, doctors, nurses, hospital and medical staff, and medical researchers."

Apparel

Barco — Barco is donating 10,000 free scrubs per month to healthcare teams in need throughout the U.S. Fill out their online request form to add your hospital to the donation list.

Crocs — Crocs is giving away 20,000 pairs of shoes every day to healthcare workers on the front lines. Simply visit the Crocs request site every day at 12 p.m. ET to get in line and claim your pair.

Dr. Scholl’s — Dr. Scholl’s is donating $1.3 million worth of insoles to healthcare workers. Your hospital can submit a request via email (coronavirus.outreach@drscholls.com). Be sure to include your hospital name, contact info (name, phone number, and email address), a shipping address, delivery instructions, and the number of female and male insoles needed in your request.

Glowforge — Nurses, retail workers, delivery workers, doctors, and sanitation workers can get free Ear Savers via Glowforge (a 3-D printer company). Ear Savers are designed to take the pressure off your ears while you’re wearing a mask.

Other Goods and Services

AT&T — AT&T is offering nurses and physicians three free months of service on their FirstNet Mobile — Responder plan. New subscribers are also eligible for a $200 activation credit when activating a new FirstNet Ready smartphone on a new plan.

Tide — Tide is offering free laundry and dry cleaning services to the immediate family members of front-line responders including paramedics, doctors, nurses, hospital and medical staff, medical researchers, police officers, and firefighters.

The best way to prevent contracting or spreading coronavirus is with thorough hand washing and social distancing. If you feel you may be experiencing symptoms of coronavirus, which include persistent cough (usually dry), fever, shortness of breath, and fatigue, please call your doctor before going to get tested. For comprehensive resources and updates, visit the CDC website. If you are experiencing anxiety about the virus, seek out mental health support from your provider or visit NAMI.org.