By Eileen Moon
With some medical facilities in New Jersey reporting dangerously low levels of respiratory masks and other critical equipment, a grassroots effort to provide some homegrown protection to those on the front lines has sprung up in the Two River area.
After hearing from friends in the medical community about shortages of respiratory masks, Michael Duru of Michael Duru Clothiers, designers of custom-made men’s clothing in Red Bank, decided to put his tailoring skills to use making masks. The covers will provide some protection to medical personnel who might need to reuse the masks originally intended for single use.
“I was shocked to hear that there was such an issue in our towns,” said Duru.
After speaking with officials from several area hospitals, Duru asked for specifications for an appropriate mask design and went to work designing one made from washable, “World War II-style” canvas material in white or ivory.
The masks Duru made do not provide virus protectionon their own.
“This pattern works as a coverup to the existing mask. That’s what it’s designed for,” Duru said.
On Monday, Duru’s brother, Matt, delivered 600 masks to Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch.
“We made the pattern available on a YouTube video,” Duru said. “This isn’t forsale. We donated this. That was the whole point of it.”
After hearing of Duru’s effort, one of his business partners, Mitch Gambert of Mel Gambert Shirt Makers in Newark, asked for the pattern and committed his 18 employees to large scale production of the masks at it Newark factory. “He can do way more than we can,” Duru said.
As helpful as the hand-sewn masks may be in extending the life of traditional hospital-grade masks and respirators, Duru stressed that doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are desperately in need of the real things. If you have any at your home or business, he urged, it’s time to donate them to the people trying to save lives.
“I’m trying to get the word out,” Duru said. “If anyone has sanitary masks at home, don’t hold on to them.”
Last week, Middletown resident Christine Gizzi began marshaling an effort to match area seamstresses with hospitals, nursing homes, supermarkets and other facilities on the frontline through her nonprofit, SOS Matters, a group she established to help locals in need in the aftermath of Super Storm Sandy in 2012.
The response was immediate.
“There’s probably 150 seamstresses out there that are cranking them out,” said Gizzi, of the masks. She established a Facebook group, “SOSmatters Face Mask Sewing Group,” to field the exchanges. Gizzi has posted links to Google Docs in the group for people to make requests for materials, patterns, mask donations or to volunteer to pick up and deliver.
“Some people I didn’t know from a hole in the ground, I just posted a link,” Gizzi said. From there, an army of home sewers enlisted for the cause.
Most home sewers are basing the masks they make on patterns now circulating on social media, making their masks out of cotton and crowdsourcing what materials they can’t find in their own sewing supplies.
“I went to the attic and found my old box of fabrics,” said Aimee Humphreys, Red Bank, a professional seamstress who would normally be sewing prom gowns at this time of year.
While the response has been enthusiastic, “I hope to get a lot more people that can sew,” Gizzi said.
In addition to providing masks to medical personnel, Gizzi wants to make them available to supermarket employees and others who have to interact with the public on a daily basis.
While the home-sewn masks may not be strong enough to stop the virus, “It’s a little bit better than nothing,” said Humphreys. “In my 71 years of life, my theory is, ‘it couldn’t hurt.’ ”
Joianne Faschella, who travels throughout the state to manage group homes for disabled adults, contacted Gizzi’s group in search of masks for her staff and employees.
Many residents of the group homes have come from institutional settings and become apprehensive when they see medical scrubs or masks, she said. “We discourage the use of scrubs in our homes because it can scare them,” she said.
After seeing some mask covers with cartoon characters on them, she reached out to the SOSmatters group to see if she could obtain some for her residents.
While the residents she cares for are healthy now, she is concerned that the spread of the virus may affect group home residents in the near future.
The colorful patterns of the home-sewn masks will be less alarming to the residents and, because they contain tabs where a medical filter can be inserted, she hopes they can offer some protection to the residents.
Home sewers stress that it’s extremely important to wash the masks once they’re made and then to wash them frequently while they’re in use. “They should wash them thoroughly in hot water and soap,” said Humphreys.
A secondary benefit of the mask-making mission, she added, is its ability to help people connect during a scary and challenging time.
“I think it makes people feel like there’s something they can do, and that’s very wonderful,” said Humphreys.
“We are so inspired by the gesture,” said Kelli O’Brien, chief hospital executive for Riverview Medical Center, which is part of the Hackensack Meridian network of health facilities in the state. “At this time, Hackensack Meridian Health has an adequate supply of surgical masks. We do know there are other hospitals that don’t have adequate supplies.” She advised community members who wish to donate supplies to email the New Jersey State Police at ppedonations@njsp.org.
“The state’s Office of Emergency Management is coordinating donations on behalf of health care providers throughout the state and is best equipped to organize this effort,” she said.
At CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, where three members of a large local family died of COVID-19 (a fourth died in Pennsylvania) and several others were successfully treated, the need for community donations is already at a critical point.
“The needs are massive and it’s greater than masks,” said CentraState Medical Center social worker Debbie Turi-Smith, who connected with the SOSmatters group for help with donations.
“We’re anticipating an ongoing need for the masks and a lot of other things,” she said. “We’re trying very hard to prepare.”
“We do have the biggest cluster of positive (COVID-19) cases in the state of New Jersey right now,” said Turi-Smith.
In addition to medical grade N95 masks, the hospital is welcoming donations of handmade masks, cone masks, Purell hand sanitizer, bonnets, booties, gowns, baby monitors, thermometers, face shields, goggles, disposable stethoscopes, telemedicine cameras, ventilators, UV machines to clean patient rooms, snack tables, nonperishable foods and games for people in quarantine.
Those who are able to donate are asked to contact Olive Taylor, development coordinator for the Centra-State Healthcare Foundation, at centrastatefoundation.org.
The foundation has also posted a template for mask-making on its website, which can be found at thestitchingscientist.com/2020/03/how-to-sew- a-face-mask.html.
The article originally appeared in the March 26- April 1, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
