Hospital asks public to sew CDC-compliant face masks for staff

By now everyone is aware of the outrageous shortages of badly needed medical supplies , face masks and PPEs used by our brave medical practitioners to fight CV19.

One hospital has resorted to asking the public to sew face masks like were used in the early and mid 20th century.

In the last link below is the pattern and specs if you'd like to help or if you need to sew one for yourself or a loved one.

Citing shortages, Deaconess Health System, including Henderson's Methodist Health, has asked the public to sew face masks for staff fighting coronavirus.

"This does follow CDC protocols that you can find on their website that if all other supplies are not available, that handmade masks that meet certain criteria are acceptable," Deaconess spokeswoman Becca Scott said.

The release with the video, pattern and instructions was posted to the Deaconess Facebook page Thursday morning and is available at www.deaconess.com/masks. A PDF of the pattern is available here and embedded at the bottom of this article.

www.courierpress.com...

We are welcoming fabric masks from our community as we prepare for COVID-19.
Thank you so much for your interest and care.

Orders for standard/disposable masks are on long back-orders, due to both demand and supply chain issues. Other hospitals across the country are reporting the same supply concerns.

According to the CDC, fabric masks are a crisis response option when other supplies have been exhausted.

“Prior to modern disposable masks, washable fabric masks were standard use for hospitals,” said Dawn Rogers, MSN, RN, FNP-C, Patient Safety & Infection Prevention Office. “We will be able to sterilize these masks and use them repeatedly as needed. While it’s less than ideal, we want to do our best to protect our staff and patients during this pandemic.”

www.deaconess.com...


PDF and how-to video at link

Stay healthy, stay home.

My gf is a nurse at Swedish hospital in downtown Seattle.. She received a email tonight from her manager telling her to bring her own mask to work. They dont have PPE gear, she has covid patients and its a ticking time bomb, cause all these nurses will get sick and whos going to take care of the sick?

I still dont understand how hospitals are so under prepared for events like these.. And its not like the US hospitals didnt see the writing on the walls when SHTF in China a few months earlier and began spreading..

a reply to: jhn7537

I'm so sorry, I know it must be very stressful for you both. Prayers and a HUGE thanks out to her.

I don't understand it either.

It's not like they haven't been doing pandemic planning and response drills for years. I'll never be convinced that didn't include an inventory of all supplies.

a reply to: kosmicjack

Thank you! I very much appreciate it. She was tested yesterday (which she said was painful) but wont get results back for a few more days (told her 3-5).. and if positive, then i need to get tested cause i live with her and i have Crohns... definitely complicated times.. I just wish the hospitals properly prepared our nurses.. We would never send a Army troop out to battle without the necessary gear.. We never send police out to patrol without their gun/vest.. but for some reason, we allow nurses take the front line without PPE gear.. its a real damn shame that this is allowed to EVER happen..

originally posted by: jhn7537
a reply to: kosmicjack
We would never said a Army troop out to battle without the necessary gear.. We never send police out to patrol without their gun/vest.. but for some reason, we allow nurses take the front line without PPE gear.. its a real damn shame that this is allowed to EVER happen..

When you put it like that, it's very stark. Malfeasance? Derelict? Criminal?

I see lawsuits.

Were getting there. Some units are on second tier isolation protocols

a reply to: FredT

Can you comment on whether inventories are included in pandemic response drills or readiness plans?

a reply to: kosmicjack

Its hard to gauge. We have regular disaster drills. And our transport team was fully trained to do ultra long range ebola transports so we have had regular training and ongoing education. That being said, I think most hospitals and regular staff are woefully unprepared for disasters and mass casualties. I also think most hospitals have that just as it needed supply chain due to costs and the supply chain is outsourced so there simply is not enough stuff. We consume and incredible amount of supplies on just one transport

Ebola isolation

Well, the wife's knitting groups knit things for groups, for soldiers and kids groups.

They meet at the library every week for coffee and snacks and to do knitting projects.

Oh wait, the library is closed and the people fear going out in public because my wife is the youngest one there and she is sixty six. So, no masks for the government from them. They are good knitters though, the masks would be very pretty masks, the nurses would take them all home instead of the ones at the hospital. Which would increase available masks at the hospital anyway I suppose.

originally posted by: kosmicjack
a reply to: FredT

Can you comment on whether inventories are included in pandemic response drills or readiness plans?

Last year Washington did a Transportation Relay Exercise with some counties taking delivery of actual materials and some receiving a "blank" piece of cardboard to simulate the size of a standard delivery of vaccines. Even though I participated with the planning with WA DOH I honestly don't know how much even state level people know about the real numbers of supplies available through the Strategic National Stockpile. There are some valid reasons for discretion especially with resources that could be vulnerable to intentional destruction in something like a large bioterror attack or just all out social hysteria.

My guess is the activations we're hearing about now are going to be for transport and hopefully that will begin alleviating some of these shortages. FredT may be able to comment on if that's being deployed yet. I'm out of the loop at this point.

So some interesting facts for including using Salt in your masks.

Make a Pandemic Survival Face Mask at home! Salt encrusted center filter may stop some germs!

Adapting a ordinary mask
A Salt-coated Mask Kill CORONA Virus In 5 Minutes- Learn How To make Yourself

Science U of A professor uses salt to kill viruses
commercial versions made in USA

Fun explanation of difference between Virus and Bacterium
Viruses and Bacteria: What's the difference and who cares anyway? - Plain and Simple

originally posted by: puzzled2
So some interesting facts for including using Salt in your masks.

Very interesting... there was another thread about this yesterday:

Universal and reusable virus deactivation system for respiratory protection

This is valuable information for everyone -- how to make and prepare our own masks for our own protection.

We've been told for four months that N95 masks are worthless...

Why the big fuss now?

(That's sarcasm, btw)

a reply to: YouAreLiedTo

Hah! You were told for months that they were useless so Joe Methpack wouldn't horde 1000 of them in his mancave and suck up the supply from actual healthcare providers.

It didn't work very well, obviously. The first sign that we were fooked was when contractors couldn't get any to do their normal jobs.

We should have told everyone that they were made out of solid gold and worked better than viagra for whiskey-donk. People would have avoided them like the plague.

a reply to: 0zzymand0s

3M alone produces 35,000,000 N95's per months.

If they weren't #ing people around with misinformation, we could have had 140,000,000 industrial masks just from one company, paid for and stockpiled for medical workers, today.

But no, just like the attitide on these boards... Everyone wants to bull# around until it's too late.

a reply to: YouAreLiedTo

If that is true, then where did they go? No one on these boards had anything to do with that.

a reply to: jhn7537

The supply chain all comes from China. This is the problem we created in the 90s when we moved all manufacturing there.

My hospital was almost out of regular size masks weeks ago. My wife was lucky, she uses small. But everyone else had to use them too, so those are out now as well and the only size left is for a child.

originally posted by: OccamsRazor04
a reply to: jhn7537

The supply chain all comes from China. This is the problem we created in the 90s when we moved all manufacturing there.

My hospital was almost out of regular size masks weeks ago. My wife was lucky, she uses small. But everyone else had to use them too, so those are out now as well and the only size left is for a child.

Hopefully this will be the straw that broke the camel's back and makes us wake up and fix that.

a reply to: jhn7537

Please look at the post above by 'puzzled2' with the links for using a salt mixture on surgical masks in order to strengthen them against Covid-19...

...I hope you can use the info to protect your girlfriend, and perhaps she could pass the info to colleagues..

This is why I will soon be wearing second tier PPE because of #nuts like this tool that I saw at COSTCO this am

First off, The mask was a poor fit. It had gaps which basically negates any protection.

He had the straps wrong

He kept pulling it down to inhale..... I know breathing in this stuff blows, but seriously what was the point

Thank you asshole, now a MD, RN or RCP will go without