Residents do their part to help protect GRH workers
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"I reached out to a few of my friends (at the hospital) and as well to the director of nursing,
"We wanted to know whether or not our local health care providers were safe," she said.
Design gets hospital OKThe two were linked up and in the last two weeks -- joined by a network of about 40 volunteers, Simpson said -- have been able to deliver more than 150 cloth masks to the hospital. What's more, the mask, which Hedrick designed and the hospita approved, can be reinforced with additional filtering to increase its effectiveness.
"I borrowed the design from one that had been approved for use in the
In all, Grande Ronde has received close to 200 masks from the public, and more are sure to come in the coming days and weeks.
"We knew going into this that cloth masks aren't capable of protecting our front-line staff from COVID-19 the same way that a commercially-produced medical mask does, so we wanted to be sure we had a plan to use these masks prior to accepting donations," she said.
Staff not on those front lines could use the washable mask, which have two layers and are about 8x8 inches, Hedrick said, and are hemmed at the bottom. The hem can hold in a hepa filter, which increases the strength of the mask. Stonebreaker said the hospital gave its OK for the mask on
"I was pleased that that's where we're going to be able to help with that," Hedrick said.
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Community responds to appealSimpson, meanwhile, worked on gathering volunteers who wanted to sew masks. Through a Facebook appeal, word of mouth and the sewing network of the area, a group of about 40 people have come together to make masks, and Simpson said the numbers are increasing.
"Every week there is a couple more people," she said. "We continue to look for additional sewers."
Simpson's home became the drop-off point for the masks, and she set up a method to be sure masks could be delivered while limiting the spread of the coronavirus.
"In order to keep the social distance that we believe is important there is a bag hung on the front gate of my home," she said. "People drop the masks that are sealed in the receiving bag. I put all the individual bags together and give them to the
Simpson and Hedrick on
"They will continue to take masks as long as we can provide them," Simpson said.
Hedrick said masks also are going home with front-line workers.
"When we were talking with
People who have a sewing machine and are interested in helping can contact Simpson at [email protected], or can find the guidelines for the masks at grh.org/covid-19.
Stonebreaker expressed appreciation for those who have come together to help, and said Simpson and Hedrick were instrumental in helping to "get the project off the ground."
"It's very important to us that we honor these donations," Stonebreaker said. "They're truly a labor of love."
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