In mid-March, when Joyce Luscian of Elizabethtown asked her friend Nancy Hopper of Manheim, who is a retired costume maker for Colonial Williamsburg, Va., to help her make masks for workers at a Penn Medicine outpatient facility in Lebanon, Hopper went right to work.
Using material she already had, Hopper completed about 30 masks, which Luscian delivered at cost to her co-workers. "At that point, we were screening each patient coming through the door," said Luscian, who is no longer working at the clinic because she is immunocompromised. "We were taking temperatures, asking if they had traveled or had shortness of breath." Unfortunately, the shortage of personal protective equipment - masks, face shields, and glasses - meant the workers were asked to complete the screenings without being provided with the necessary gear.
Luscian had turned to Hopper because of her seamstress skills. "(Luscian) gave me a pattern she had found online," said Hopper, adding, "(The masks) are not difficult to make." The pattern Luscian found is for a mask that covers the entire nose and extends back on the sides of the face. "They have a cup shape, and they have wire in the nose (area) to help them fit (snugly)." The masks are made from a fabric that uses a small weave.
Luscian said that the pattern offers some benefits. "The nose piece is higher (on the face)," said Luscian, who added that the mask has loops that go around the ears to hold it in place. An additional feature is pockets in the sides of the fronts that can be filled with a piece cut from a new vacuum cleaner bag or other type of filter.
Hopper soon recruited her friends Susan Tucker and Sue Hess, and the trio have created masks that they donated to Mount Hope and Pleasant View retirement communities, both in Manheim.
Recently, Luscian picked up mask kits at the Barnstormers' home stadium. "Penn Medicine is looking for volunteers to sew masks," said Luscian, who noted that each kit includes instructions and enough fabric, filter paper, and wire to make 30 masks. Luscian delivered the kits to Hopper's porch for her and her friends to work on. She will return the completed masks to the stadium. "If (Hopper, Tucker, and Hess) enjoy making them, I can pick up five kits at a time and that would make 150 masks," said Luscian, who noted that the masks will be used at Lancaster General Hospital.
Because Luscian was in charge of ordering supplies for the clinic in Lebanon, she became aware of the shortage months ago. "(Masks) have been hard to get all winter," reported Luscian. "It was worrisome to be (working) without the masks." She said that at one point workers were given surgical masks to wear for extended periods. "You would write the name and the date on (the mask) and put it in a paper bag and wear the same mask the next day," she recalled.
Those interested in sewing masks for Lancaster General Hospital are asked to email LGHealthCovidDonations@pennmedicine.upenn.edu. The hospital is also in need of items such as gloves, bleach, hand sanitizer, face, and eye shields, and surgical caps. More information about those donations can be found at http://www.lancastergeneralhealth.org.
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