Several local community members have taken on the task of crafting homemade masks to aid medical staff with shortages of protective gear. The masks can be made in a variety of ways, such as simple cotton fabric or even using vacuum bags. The masks are being donated to hospitals in the area. Jennifer Harger’s masks, above, are made of three layers of cotton with a pocket for health care staff to insert a filter.
Locals sew face masks to aid with shortages
Face mask shortages have been a growing concern with the spread of COVID-19, but several locals have been doing all they can to help those in need of masks by sewing their own to donate.
Susan Hanson of Elsie, Jennifer Harger of Madrid and Alyson Carlson of Grant are three community members who have been hard at work crafting homemade masks for health workers.
Hanson, who has 60 years of experience sewing under her belt, got the idea from her husband’s nephew who is an anesthesiologist in Denver.
The hospital where he is employed has experienced a shortage of masks and reached out to his mother in Elsie. She shared several sites with Hanson explaining how to make masks, and the style that stuck out to Hanson is made with Hepa filtration synthetic cloth bags.
“Even though it’s not CDC approved, it’s better than not having a mask at all,” Hanson said.
The Hepa vaccum bag masks were designed by a doctor’s wife in the hopes it would filter out some of the germs. Though they may not filter everything, having a barrier between the mouth and nose is vital for health care staff when treating patients.
Hanson picked up two boxes of the vacuum bags from Country Supply in Grant and True Value in Imperial, and she purchased elastic from Madrid General Store. She is also using batik fabric, a finely woven fabric, to construct the protective masks.
With these supplies she was able to craft 16 masks on Thursday and Friday last week for donation.
The masks are currently on their way to Denver and Dr. Colglaizer’s office.
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