LI's Christie Brinkley helping raise funds to buy medical equipment

Christie Brinkley has launched a promotional initiative to help raise funds to buy needed equipment for medical professionals fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

A day after reposting a nurse's plea for the public to accept that the pandemic is not "sensationalism … [or] a hoax" and to stay indoors in order to prevent spread of the virus, the Bridgehampton supermodel, 66, said in an Instagram video Monday that her organic wine company Bellissima Prosecco is "giving 30 percent of our online sales to Direct Relief," a 71-year-old disaster-response charitable organization. It "will then buy the masks and PPEs [personal protective equipment] and get them to the hospital heroes who so desperately need them."

Brinkley also asked the public to express "our gratitude and appreciation and love" for medical workers by offering them virtual toasts. "Won't you join me in raising a glass and giving your own personal reason why you want to toast them," she said. "And just tag it #liftingspirits and @bellissimaprosecco, so we see your beautiful toast" in addition to what marketing purposes that might serve. "And more importantly, so that the doctors and nurses and everybody working in the hospitals see your post and know how much they're loved."

In a FaceTime interview with the syndicated entertainment-news program "Extra" on Monday, Brinkley said her son Jack Brinkley-Cook, 24, was with her in the Hamptons but that her daughters Sailor Brinkley-Cook, 21, and Alexa Ray Joel, 34, were in New York City, where they live. "I'm missing them so much and I'm so worried about them," Brinkley said, her voice choking up.

"But Sailor was touring with ‘Dancing with the Stars.’" she said. "And she was meeting with crowds of people every night, hugging everybody so she said, 'Mom, there is no way I'm coming home until I'm 100% sure I haven't contracted anything.’ "

She added about daughter Alexa, her child with Billy Joel: “And Alexa has all her equipment there. She's been working on some recordings, so she's been hesitant to leave all of that. Of course, I want my babies here.”

Alexa Ray Joel's planned wedding to restaurateur Ryan Gleason, for which the couple has not announced a date, "is on hold right now," Brinkley added.