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Meet the new specialized Nike footwear 1:22
(CNN) - Nike will donate 30,000 pairs of shoes - especially designed for health workers - to hospitals in different cities in the United States.
Released on the market in November 2019, the Air Zoom Pulse is the company's first shoe "designed for the health athlete, an everyday hero," Nike said in a statement released Monday.
Experts from the company went to OHSU's Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, Oregon, to study health workers. They took into account the challenges faced by those working in this area, including the large number of hours left standing and liquid spills, as well as the need for comfortable shoes for long shifts.
Nike partnered with Good360, a nonprofit organization specializing in donation distribution, to deliver the sneakers in Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis and New York City, as well as the Veterans Health Administration, according to the company.
The company announced that healthcare workers in New York and Los Angeles will also receive nearly 95,000 pairs of soccer socks designed to lightly compress the legs.
"The effort is guided by messages of gratitude to health professionals," Nike said in its statement. "From athlete to athlete, Nike athletes recognize the physical and mental endurance of health athletes," the company added.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted his thanks to the company. "Thank you so much for supporting our health heroes who are on the front line," he tweeted Monday.
Hospitals in some parts of Europe - such as Barcelona, Berlin, London, Milan, Paris and Belgium - will receive another 2,500 pairs of shoes, Nike reported.
According to Johns Hopkins University, more than three and a half million cases of coronavirus and at least 251,000 deaths have already been registered worldwide.
Nike's donation comes as part of the continuing effort of health workers who continue to battle the pandemic, often putting themselves at risk. Many are helping patients without adequate supplies and equipment to protect themselves.
Nike explained that some of its teams worked together to create and donate masks that allow for complete face protection and glasses with Assisted Filtering Respiratory Equipment (PAPR) to help protect health workers.
So far Nike and the Nike Foundation have committed more than $ 25 million to fight covid-19, according to the company.
CNN's Elise Hammond contributed to this article.
#coronavirus # covid19Nike
