Area sewers make hundreds of homemade face masks

ASHLAND — Charmaine Kaylor, an Ashland woman who works as a nurse at Wooster Community Hospital, said receiving a homemade face mask helped her peace of mind immensely.

In the face of a country-wide personal protective equipment shortage, health-care professionals not working directly with coronavirus cases but in direct contact with other patients, like Kaylor, are turning to homemade masks.

Ashland residents are answering the call, joining in a large movement of good Samaritans across the country who are sewing fabric masks for free.

“It just made a big difference going back in there,” Kaylor said. “I don’t know where we would have gotten them without the Old Uniontown Quilt Guild.”

Kaylor told her friend through church Wendy Shreffler about the need for masks. Shreffler got the Old Uniontown Quilt Guild, which Shreffler is the secretary of, and the Trinity Lutheran Church Peacemakers Quilt Group involved and now at least nine sewers from those groups are hard at work.

“These [health-care workers] need to be protected,” Shreffler said. “I wouldn’t want to be doing the job they’re doing. They need help. I shared information with the guild and peacemakers quilt group and the masks have just started rolling in. It’s kind of spreading like wildfire. People hear about it and they want to help.”

So far, they have produced over 250 masks in about a week, she said.

The sewers distribute the masks to health-care workers they know; Wooster Community Hospital; University Hospitals Samaritan Medical Center; the Ashland County Emergency Management Agency, which redistributes them where they are most needed; and other institutions and individuals. They also donate the masks to at-high-risk individuals they know or through the Ashland County Cancer Association.

“We’re just trying to help out friends and neighbors any way we can,” said Jane Vines, one of the Ashland quilters who is making masks.

Members of the guild had previously discussed sewing homemade masks for health-care workers during the coronavirus outbreak but they weren’t sure if they would get used, said Shreffler.

Ashland County Emergency Management Agency Director Mark Rafeld said his agency is “trying to gather as many home-sewn masks as we can ... in case PPE is not available when we need it.”

He said the EMA has distributed some masks to Ashland City Public Transit drivers and it plans on distributing masks to nursing homes. Even some first responders may have to wear the homemade masks if PPE becomes too scarce, said Rafeld.

“From the bottom of my heart we wholeheartedly thank those who are doing this for us,” he said. “It means a great deal to us and I know it will mean a great deal to those who end up wearing them.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said homemade masks are not ideal but may be necessary. Guidelines from the CDC state that when no better masks are available, health-care providers “might use homemade masks (e.g., bandanna, scarf) for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.”

And the Trump administration is reportedly formalizing new guidance to recommend that many Americans wear face coverings.

“What these ladies have provided is a welcome layer that may make the difference. It also has made a barrier from touching our face,” Kaylor said. “It might not be as effective as N95 [masks] but it’s something … It also has made a barrier from touching our faces. I strive to help others as a nurse and I have no idea who is carrying this villain.”

The local quilters aren’t the only ones churning out masks. Linda Turske, the costume designer for the Renaissance Theatre in Mansfield, has made 275 masks in five days. The Montgomery Township woman said she is putting the fabric scraps she’s accumulated in over 45 years of working as a seamstress to good use.

“People need help and I have this skill to sew them together and I have the material,” she said. “As long as I can help people, I want to.”

Melissa Williamson, a Perrysville woman who works as a nurse at Wooster Community Hospital, is one of Turske’s mask beneficiaries. She said she’s grateful that local sewers are providing masks for free.

“There’s a shortage everywhere … it’s scary,” she said. “We’re just grateful for people like Linda who are stepping up to help the healthcare field and the community.”

Mask makers should call ahead to Ashland County Health Department at (419)-282-4231 to set up a time to drop off completed masks placed in ziplock bags at 1763 State Route 60. Shreffler said those who are interested in making masks but don’t want to leave the house can get in touch with Old Uniontown Quilt Guild on Facebook about scheduling a pick-up.

To report more examples of the community pulling together during this pandemic, staff writer Jordan Laird can be reached at 419-281-0581 ext. 240 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @JordanSLaird1.

CREDIT: JORDAN LAIRD