Octavia Spencer Donates Respiratory Monitors

People.com: The Oscar-winning actress wrote on Instagram that she is donating the monitors "to provide much needed relief to nurses as they navigate care for COVID-19 patients"

Octavia Spencer is doing her part to help hospitals across the United States during the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The actress, 47, is donating Miku breathing monitors to facilities in Alabama and New York, the epicenter of the pandemic.

"I, like many of you, have felt helpless in knowing how to help during this time," Spencer wrote on Instagram Tuesday.

"Seeing what is happening in the communities that I love, I have teamed up with @Mikucare to donate monitors to nursing and medical facilities in Alabama and New York to provide much needed relief to nurses as they navigate care for COVID-19 patients," she continued, sharing a photo of a medical care worker.

The monitors that the Ma star is donating are contactless, and offer "the ability to detect nuanced changes in breathing patterns."

"With the understanding that respiration is one of the earliest indicators of illness, Miku’s breathing monitoring can indicate potential onset before other symptoms present," she explained in her Instagram post. The monitors also have talk and video capabilities which provide "patients and medical personnel a method to communicate safely and effectively with those who have contracted the highly contagious virus."

The Oscar winner then encouraged others to remain at home and follow social distancing rules amid the ongoing public health crisis.

"Please everyone do your part to stay safe and stay home in order to protect yourself and the ones you love most and I hope we can all find ways - small and large - to give back to our neighbors, family, and those on the front lines," she concluded the post.