301-676-4131
The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc
Helping prevent, educate, and drive awareness to the deadly impacts of infectious diseases!
Together we can accomplish anything!
Registered 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization
The Love For Lochlin Foundation Inc.
Together we can accomplish anything!
At The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc our Mission is to help prevent, educate, and drive awareness to the deadly impacts of infectious disease such as Influenza ("the Flu") and COVID-19. We work hard at providing our community with the resources, knowledge, and ability to help prevent these infectious diseases through proven and ethical practices. It is our promise that we will work tirelessly to help prevent anyone from experiencing the pain that our family has felt from a vaccinable disease.
2021 Paul Harris Fellow Award Winner
Helping The Community
The Paul Harris award is the Rotary Club’s highest honor, given only to members of the community who truly exemplify leadership through service. Candidates for this award will have demonstrated their goodwill through genuine deeds and actions by going above and beyond the call of duty.
2021 S.H.E.R.O. Award Winner
For Strength and Perseverance
The SHERO Awards were established to celebrate and shine a light on
individuals who are making an impact by triumphing over adversity, demonstrating extraordinary care for others or leading change in our community.
2021 All Star Do-Gooder Award Winner
For Serving The Community
Awarded to those who have provided countless volunteer hours for numerous causes and groups within our community and whose tireless efforts help these causes provide for others. They give back to their local community without compensation and help to improve lives.
Love For Lochlin at a Glance
Our Story
On January 20th of 2020, our 5-year-old son Lochlin passed away suddenly from complications of Flu related Sepsis. He was a healthy energetic young boy who was full of life. He developed mild flu like symptoms the evening of Friday January 17th after returning home from school. On Saturday and into Sunday he was feeling better and was even up running around with his brothers. However, by Sunday evening he started to feel worse and seemed to have lost his appetite. Lochlin was complaining of severe muscle pains in his legs making it difficult to walk, had a mild fever, and was low on energy. Sunday night we took him into an Urgent care where he was diagnosed with Influenza Type A. We were instructed to take him home, give him fluids and if he was not better in the morning to take him into the emergency room. The next morning, he was not feeling any better and his muscle pains had increased to the point where he refused to walk so, we took him to the emergency room. Unfortunately, at that point it was too late. He started to go into Septic shock and the medical staff was unable to save him. He passed away shortly after. This was a devastating blow to our Family. However, it was also an eye-opening experience. We knew that we had to do something, get the word out, and make sure that this type of tragedy did not happen again in our community.
Since Lochlin’s passing we have set out on a mission to educate and protect as many people as possible from the deadly impacts that infectious diseases can have on our communities. We started this Non-profit organization, The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc, which is dedicated to fulfilling that mission. We have taken a two-pronged approach at fighting the spread of infectious diseases; one is through vaccination clinics that we conduct in the low-income and underserved areas of our community where people do not have the means or awareness to get vaccinated, along with getting flu vaccines into all schools making it easier for children to get vaccinated. The second is through legislation to help get protocols and testing for SEPSIS put into place for all medical practices. 1 out of 3 deaths in hospitals are caused by sepsis, however 87% of SEPSIS cases start in the community. By implementing protocols and improving testing and awareness among the public and all medical facilities we aim to reduce that number dramatically.
As we look to the future, we are growing our organization and accelerating our efforts to assure that we can help protect, educate, and drive awareness to the impacts of these infectious diseases. We have established partnerships with county Health Departments along with other local health organizations to increase our mobile clinic volume and overall outreach to the community. Our goal over the next three years is to scale our efforts so that we can protect as many people as possible from experiencing the pain that our family has endured. By focusing our efforts on prevention and partnering with other organizations we hope to achieve all time lows in deaths and hospitalizations related to infectious diseases.
We also know that our strength lies not only in the words we stand by, but most importantly through the actions of our initiatives. Which is why our organization is determined to make a difference and win the battle against infectious diseases in the name of our son, Lochlin DeSantis.
Over the past year we have conducted over 60 mobile vaccine clinics administering over 750 free flu vaccines and over 1000 COVID-19 vaccines in low-income areas of Frederick County. We also held multiple clothing drives/distributions giving away over $5000 in clothing and over $2000 in sanitation supplies (i.e. hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and disinfectant cleaners). On top of that we partnered with other organizations in the county to support and help run food distributions which provided over 3.6 million meals in effort to promote healthier living for people in need.
We hope that you too will join us in our fight against infectious diseases! Get educated, get vaccinated, and ask more questions! Because together, we can accomplish anything!
Sincerely,
William & Brooke DeSantis
Founders
The Love for Lochlin Foundation Inc
Frederick, MD 21702
UPCOMING EVENTS
Initiatives
Supporting The Community
Wellness Clinics
We are currently holding weekly clinics in neighborhoods where we provide vaccines, educational information, critical need items (clothing, food, sanitary items, etc), and usually a fun treat for everyone! We want to make sure that we are able to help as many people as possible receive their Flu and COVID-19 Vaccines along with understanding and educating them on the importance of staying vaccinated against infectious disease such as COVID and Influenza.
You too can become a Love for Lochlin Flu Fighter by sponsoring a person or family in need to receive their Flu Vaccine this year! Contrary to what most people think the flu vaccine is NOT free. If you do not have health insurance the flu vaccine will cost between $35 - $75 per vaccine at your local pharmacy. For many that could be the difference of putting food on the table for that week. Which is why we work hard to assure no one has to decide between getting vaccinated or providing for their family which is why we offer the vaccine for free!
See below how you can become a Love for Lochlin Flu Fighter today and help us win this fight against the flu!
Flu & Sepsis Awareness
Our organizations core mission is to provide awareness, education, and protection to everyone from the deadly impacts of the Flu and Sepsis. The Flu and Sepsis kill thousands of people every year. However, it can be prevented if you know the signs and symptoms! Which is why we do free flu clinics in our community every week leading up to and during flu season to help those in need protect themselves against the FLU and get educated on the signs and symptoms of Sepsis. Click below to learn more and help us on our mission!
Operation Healthy Growing
Vaccination is the best way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, however having a healthy immune system is just as important for preventing death and hospitalizations. So we have set up an initiative called "Operation Healthy Growing" to help promote healthier eating among our low income and underserved areas of our community.
With this initiative we are working with some of our local youth programs to plant and grow vegetables in individual garden pots and also community gardens to then give to people and families in need. By doing this we are providing them with fresh produce, promoting healthier living, and also teaching our youth how to grow their own food. We have also found that when people have fallen on tough times having something to care for and nurture helps them get through it by giving them a sense of purpose!
We absolutely love this initiative and are working diligently to scale it to be able to help as many people and families as possible!
You too can help with this cause through a small donation or by volunteering your time!
Supporting those in Need
With this initiative, our goal is to promote and support those in need. With access to the right resources, people can become empowered by their own abilities and gain the confidence to fulfill their potential. With our mission at the forefront we work hard to help educate, protect, and empower all patrons in our community regardless of their circumstances. Learn more about our work by getting in touch with our team today.
Sat, Aug 07Sponsored Clinic Locations change weeklyAug 07, 2021, 7:00 PM – Apr 30, 2022, 11:00 PMSponsored Clinic Locations change weeklySponsor a person or family in need to receive their flu vaccine! Each year the lack of access to vaccines leads to 1.5 million preventable deaths! Now you can help reduce the amount of preventable deaths in our community by sponsoring a person or family in need to get their annual flu vaccine!
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together"
Vincent van Gogh
Have an Idea on How to help our Mission?
Provide your ideas below!
We strongly believe the success of our mission depends on the involvement of the people in the communities we serve. So we encourage everyone to please provide your feedback and ideas on how we can be as effective as possible at making our mission a success!
