People line up to grab a mask sewing kit from a Salem Health distribution in the former Kmart parking lot on Thursday, March 26 (Courtesy/Keith Riggs)
NOTE: Salem Reporter is providing free access to its content related to the coronavirus as a community service. Subscriptions are vital to continue this so please sign up today.
An effort to put crafty Salemites to work making hospital masks paid off, with more than 10,000 sewn masks coming back to Salem Health last week.
The masks will be used along with face shields for doctors, nurses and others caring for patients with COVID-19. Hospital leaders said they were floored by the response.
“I knew there was going to be support, but not like this,” said Bahaa Wanly, Salem Health’s chief operating officer.
As of Friday, April 3, the hospital was treating 19 patients who had tested positive for COVID-19 and awaiting results for 42 more people hospitalized with similar symptoms.
Two weeks ago, the hospital asked the community for help sewing surgical masks, handing out enough kits to make 11,000. The response was overwhelming. Salemites caused a traffic jam at the pick-up site in southeast Salem, and Salem Health workers distributed nearly all kits in the first half-hour of what was supposed to be a two-day giveaway.
Wanly said the hospital wasn’t sure how many masks they’d get back, but the final tally was 10,942, more than 99% of what was given out.
This week, 10 hospital employees are inspecting them to make sure they meet quality standards, then sanitizing them. From there, they’ll go into the hospital’s stockpile.
The hospital is still at its highest level of mask conservation, where workers are expected to re-use a single mask for an entire shift, spokesman Elijah Penner said. Nurses, doctors and others caring directly for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients are wearing masks and other protective equipment.
Other workers, like those screening hospital employees and visitors at hospital doors, are “adhering to social distancing guidelines, but not required to wear masks,” Penner said in an email.
He said the hospital can’t estimate how long the supply will last because the rate at which they’re being used varies based on the number of patients they’re treating.
The homemade masks were designed to be worn with a face shield, Wanly said, and can be removed from the front. That’s to minimize health care workers touching the back of their heads, which are typically uncovered.
The hospital was making its own gowns, Wanly said, but has since worked with Salem-based WaterShed Inc. to order thousands.
Hospital workers are making their own face masks, at a rate of about 800 a day, he said, though production has slowed because needed supplies like elastic ties are becoming “harder to get than we thought.” Wanly suspects it’s because more hospitals are resorting to making their own.
Salem Health is working with local3-D printing companies that may be able to help print parts for N-95 respirator masks, which have been scarce across the U.S., but Wanly said they won’t seek help from hobbyists with printers at home.
For now, there’s no plan to seek community sewing help again, but if it becomes needed, the hospital knows people are eager to step up.
“It’s very heartwarming and heartfelt within our health system we have this support,” Wanly said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander at [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.
