A retired Knappa nurse and her mother began sewing cloth masks to protect themselves from the coronavirus. But when friends and health care workers started asking for them, their living room became a production line where they sew dozens of masks every day.
Teresa Bennett and her mother, Karen Elder, are just one example of people across the North Coast stepping up to help others during the crisis.
Karen Elder stitches two layers of fabric together to strengthen the barrier of the face masks.
With an impaired immune system, Bennett is at greater risk from the virus, so she began taking precautions early on to protect herself and others. Since Elder is elderly, she is also considered at higher risk. So the two decided to shelter in place together in Elder’s home.
“Early on, when this first came out, both of us realized that we are in danger. And so, in my first aid kit I always carried surgical masks for emergencies. So I pulled those out,” Bennett said.
When she wore a mask to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment, she said, some people would stare at her or even laugh.
“I was pretty much the only person who was wearing a mask, and it really bothered me because I know how susceptible I am and many people I know are,” Bennett said.
When she began to run out of surgical masks, she turned to a cloth alternative and researched the best way to make them.
She made prototypes until she found the proper fit and design. They got creative by using twist ties from coffee bags to mimic the aluminum band on surgical masks to adjust the fit. They hope to eventually create a system to collect and reuse the aluminum pieces on used surgical masks.
“Any mask is going to help reduce the spread,” Bennett said. “There’s such a perception that masks are only for sick people and that it’s weird or shameful to wear one, and I certainly felt that in the beginning. And so I started making them for friends and friend’s kids, because if more people wore them it would become more of a social norm, as well as a public health good thing.”
County collections
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says homemade masks are not considered suitable replacements for personal protective equipment unless there are no other options available.
Teresa Bennett tries on a tie-string face mask. The women designed two types of masks — one with adjustable strings and another with elastic loops.
Clatsop County Emergency Management sends resource requests to the state and receives allocations of personal protective equipment, which is distributed to emergency responders, nonaffiliated clinics, care facilities and government agencies. The allocation to each county depends on several factors, including population and the number of COVID-19 cases.
“We have very little,” said Tiffany Brown, the county’s emergency management director. “We’re in the process of working up a prioritization system because we have so little supplies against the requests that we’re receiving that we have to come up with a method for distribution.”
Brown is accepting donations of homemade masks and said a number of agencies are eager to use them.
Bennett and Elder were the first to donate homemade masks to the county. Elder said knowing there is a central point of contact that can distribute supplies to local agencies is what motivates her to continue making more.
“With cabin fever affecting so many people, if people can sew and have any access to materials, this is probably one of the best things people at home can do besides stay home,” Elder said.
Kathy Fauver created a Facebook group called Clatsop County Face Mask Makers. She said the group has grown quickly in the past week and that she is now coordinating volunteers in addition to sewing.
Fauver owns a customs alteration business, Fitted Stitches LLC, out of her home in Knappa. She said she specializes in bridal alterations, but since weddings are on hold, she wanted to use her skills to benefit the community.
“The reason I put it together is because it just seemed so much more sensible to just pull our resources together in an organized, more efficient manner and sewing and distributing the masks one agency at a time so that everyone gets served equally rather than willy nilly passing them out,” she said. “And I really wanted to have some protocol so the effort we put into it was appropriate for who we were sending it to.”
Fauver said some people in the group just cut fabric, while others only deliver. She is also looking at getting bulk material from her regular suppliers.
She is offering mask sewing kits to help people get started. Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts is also giving away free kits to make face masks.
Shannon Symonds, of Seaside, reached out to Fauver to bridge their efforts across the county.
She and others in Seaside have started to organize and make masks for local nurses, firefighters, police and care facilities who have requested them.
“We are a small town and I know the people who respond. When I go to the emergency room, I know the nurses. These are my friends and family,” Symonds said.
Technology
People have also utilized technology to provide a platform to help.
Pandemic of Love is a website that allows people in need to connect with patrons. It was started by a Florida woman and has quickly expanded to cities throughout the country and internationally.
Tammy Heintz, of Astoria, decided to start Pandemic of Love in Astoria and said several people have already been connected.
“A lot of the people asking for assistance have never had to ask for assistance, so it’s really challenging,” Heintz said.
She said many people need help buying groceries or prescriptions.
“We don’t go out to eat right now, so if somebody was used to going out to eat once a week, instead take that money and help somebody else buy food for their family,” Heintz said.
“This is more of a movement of acts of kindness and connections believing our community can come together to help each other because we are all in this together right now.”
Amber Fowler, of Cannon Beach, has a similar sentiment.
Fowler spent two decades in the San Francisco Bay Area working in the technology industry. As a newcomer to the North Coast, she said she wanted to find a way to bridge herself and her values to the community.
Fowler created a website called Coast Mutual Aid, which is inspired by a model in the Bay Area. Like Heintz, Fowler has already seen connections made.
She also looks at it as a way for tourists and locals to continue supporting their favorite businesses and service industry workers.
“I care very much about people helping people and I care about tools that are not too scary or intimidating for people to use,” Fowler said.
