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komonews.com]
Volunteers making 'homemade' equipment to combat shortages caused by COVID-19Within a day or two, some local hospitals expect to run out of specialized equipment to treat coronavirus patients.
Health care workers also said that any deliveries from the national stockpile will likely fall well short of the immediate need.
In response, a group of volunteers at Providence St. Joseph Health began churning out homemade equipment to fill that need. They spent much of Tuesday constructing face shields and surgical masks that will stand up to the rigors of this deadly disease.
The raw materials for the face shields include marine-grade vinyl, strips of foam, elastic bands and double-sided tape. All of it is available in stores around Puget Sound.
“So these face shields offer protection from spray and splatter," said Jennifer Bayersdorfer, as she held one up to demonstrate how it is used. Bayersdorfer is the senior vice president and chief quality officer at Providence St. Joseph Health, and one of the volunteers.
This personal protective equipment, or PPEs, will help doctors and nurses safely treat people with COVID-19.
“We started with that one because it's most critical,” said Rebecca Bartles, an epidemiologist with Providence. “We have some facilities that are very close to running out."
They also began modeling a few prototypes for surgical masks. It is all to address what state health officials said is a dangerous medical equipment shortage due to the speed of this coronavirus outbreak.
“It's impossible to deny. We are in a global health pandemic,” said Erika Henry, a state Health Department official who led a conference call media update on Tuesday. “There are resource shortages we simply cannot fill faster than the medical supply chain can replenish."
The federal government has promised help but the equipment has yet to reach the caregivers at Providence St. Joseph Health who stand on the front lines of this pandemic.
Gov. Jay Inslee said the state is reaching out to all suppliers.
“We are in the midst of procuring a whole host of medical equipment from ventilators to masks to gloves through the private distribution system," the governor said.
For now, be it desperate or determined, making homemade protective gear seems to be the best we can do.
“It's both frightening, and yet at the same time, galvanizing around a common cause,” Bayersdorfer said.
State health officials said some of the equipment from the federal strategic stockpile has arrived and they are in the process of distributing it now.
People who want to help the volunteers at Providence can check this link.
