Residents help to fill the mask need

FINGER LAKES--As hospitals throughout the region face potential shortages of personal protection equipment such as masks, gowns and gloves, sewers and crocheters throughout the region are responding to answer the call. With many Finger Lakes residents honoring social distancing and staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic, locals such as Mary Sotir in Yates County and Cindee Frederick Crosby in Schuyler County have decided to focus their efforts making medical masks.
"A group of us have been making masks since Monday (March 23) after we got coordinated (through Facebook) and from there it has really taken off," Crosby said. "Folks all over are making masks, the Mennonite population, people in Penn Yan, Geneva, Waterloo and three of us in Schuyler County,"
Sotir said she has worked together with five Mennonite neighbors to produce over 1,365 masks. The colorful face shields often are made of fabric that was extra from a recent project or from home supplies once destined for another project. The Yates County Sheriff's Office publicly thanked the group for their donation to the road patrol division, Monday, March 30.
An experienced quilter, Crosby said she has made over one hundred masks since she started.
"We have a motto on the community forum page that we are working together and staying apart. It's a community, we are trying to do something to help other people, we are trying to help the medical community and the people who are working to save lives. While we are able to stay home and 'relax' in our home this is something we can do to help," Crosby said.
According to officials from local hospitals, that help is much needed.
"I am a quilter, so I love to sew, and last Thursday I saw that we were starting to run lower on our supplies and I was noticing a national shortage because of the quilting page I belong to," said Sarah Clayson, education coordinator for Finger Lakes Health, which oversees Soldiers and Sailors Hospital in Penn Yan. "There were cries for help across the nation due to nurses wearing bandanas instead of masks. So I put out a call to my quilting friends on Facebook (and things have been going well ever since)."
While adamant hospitals in the Finger Lakes Health network have the required stock of PPE for their needs, Clayson said they are preparing for a worst-case scenario.
"We are preparing for a Category 5 hurricane, what that means we don't know, it might be a tropical storm, but we still need to prepare for a Category 5," Clayson said.
Michelle Benjamin, executive director of community relations with Schuyler Hospital, agreed.
"We are taking donations of masks made at home and then we will clean and sanitize them," Benjamin said.
While many of the masks being made will not yet be used for direct patient care, non-essential staff who must work in the medical setting will utilize them.
"The cloth masks that people make at home are only for use by folks not doing direct patient or resident care. We have a staff of 400 people, so we need those as well," Benjamin said.
However, if supplies run dramatically low as it has in certain parts of the country, Clayson said that homemade masks provide an excellent last resort.
"I would rather wear a home-made mask than a bandana around my face," Clayson said.
Benjamin said along with setting up a mask-making facility at Cornell University in Ithaca, Cayuga Health System, which Schuyler Hospital is a member of, is looking into setting up a mask-making facility in Schuyler County as well.
In the meantime, Clayson said it is important for people working on masks at home to follow specifications available online so that they are usable.
For her part, Crosby said she and her fellow at home-mask makers are looking for more at-home mask makers and people to help coordinate where those masks need to go.
"We spend so much time making masks, we don't have much time to spend on Facebook," Crosby said.
Crosby asked anyone interested in helping to sign up on the Finger Lakes Coronavirus Community Forum Facebook Page and communicate through there or to directly message her on Facebook.
"We aren't just supplying Schuyler and Yates but also Tompkins and Chemung," Crosby said.
Donations for Schuyler Hospital and the Cayuga Health System can be made at Tops Friendly Markets, 504 1/2 South Franklin St., Watkins Glen, customer service desk- daily, 6 a.m. - 10 p.m.; Dandy Mini Marts, Inc., 102 Main St., Odessa, Talk to any cashier- daily, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Glen Motor Inn, 3380 NY-14, Watkins Glen, front desk- weekdays, 10 a.m.- 2 p.m.
For more information, including the specifications on how to make masks, visit https://cayugahealthsystem.org/how-to-help/ or call Tiffany Bloss at 607-873-3189 or email: blosst@schuylerhospital.org.
For donations to Finger Lakes Health, call Lara Turbide at 315-787-4053 or email her at lara.turbide@flhealth.org.