US Hospitals need N95 Masks/Please donate yours

Daver

Daver

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Sep 21, 2013
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Hi FOG, I'm an NYC-based member and we have been hard hit by the coronavirus.
Tonight I contacted my local hospital because I had spare 3M 8210 N95 masks.

To my shock, the Executive Director of Lenox Hill Greenwich Village Hospital (downtown Manhattan) told me on the phone tonight,
"Yes(!). Please bring us any spare N95 masks you have. The #1 concern our staff has right now is shortage of PPE, specifically masks."

IF YOU HAVE ANY SPARE N95 MASKS IN THE SHOP OR TRUCK, please contact your local hospital to see if they're accepting donations.
FAQ: N95 Masks should be UNUSED, in the original bag or box, and less than 5 years old.
Thanks and cut safe out there, Dave
 
rmhinden said:
Excellent idea.  We are donating some of ours.

Bob
Click to expand...

That's great Bob. Thank you very much.
I was doing some searching tonight and (obviously Washington state), Boston, I believe your Bay Area as well- many places are hard hit.
Evansville, Indiana Deaconess Hospital is publishing instructions for sewing(!) masks that- if people make- they will then sterilize.

There's also been a request for people with 3D printers to print masks(!)
(Google '3D print face mask')
All in all, the US is facing a very real shortage and has needs right now.

Thanks to any and all who see or share this info- and especially for folks like you who are able to donate some of their personal PPE gear.

Dave
 
I checked. I have a few that haven't been used but the package they came in is opened as I've used a few out of the box already. I doubt they will want the handful I have, but I will ask.

Last week I heard this on NPR about the capacity to manufacture masks in the US. Just another example of why moving manufacturing overseas can come back to bite you (us). I'm not saying companies should be restricted from setting up shop wherever they want (except for certain items produced under government contracts for security or defense purposes), it's just one of the unforeseen or unintended results of doing so.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health...-are-made-in-america-to-deal-with-coronavirus
 
Bob D. said:
I checked. I have a few that haven't been used but the package they came in is opened as I've used a few out of the box already. I doubt they will want the handful I have, but I will ask.
Click to expand...

I donated 8 that were still in the bag- the box was long gone.
I believe things are so bad right now that they'd rather have what you've got and they can sterilize if necessary.
A lot better than the alternative.

As to the rest of your post, I agree.

 
I'll reach out to them and see if they're interested.
Thanks.
 
I would have already donated them if I had any. Sadly, no. But the whole topic came up in a whiskey/bourbon group I'm in and the net result was that the three local distilleries ramped up batches of Everclear for the hospitals. Glad someone in procurement for our hospital was part of the group to throw out that idea.
 
Here in Boston, with all construction ceased, the mayor asked that construction companies donate their N95 masks to local hospitals. Perhaps this didn’t need to be said, but they were also instructed those same companies to not reorder any

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My doc friend who works at a family practice clinic associated with our local teaching hospital was happy to take 10 spare masks I had kicking around.  Higher standards for accepting masks might be in effect at hospitals than at clinics, but clinic staff are very exposed and need supplies too.

They were also very happy to take a half gallon of 70% Isopropyl Alcohol I had for use on keyboards and such.
 
If you can...please do. Do it in the spirit of your fellow humans around you.

Peter

 
There are literally people sewing them in New York State now and the Governor is publicly thanking them.

I think the severity of the situation is becoming more clear to people with each passing day.
The virus is in all 50 states and we do not yet have a clear picture of how many people are currently infected.

Continued thanks to everyone commenting.
If there's a Carpenters union where you are, a woodworkers guild, or anything else- reaching out to them may wind up making a big difference.

To reiterate, I could only donate 8 masks- all I had- and the head of a hospital in new york city thanked me personally.

Anything can make a difference at this time and masks in good condition can always be sterilized- much easier than starting from scratch.
 
If it wasn't for Joann's being completely sold out of elastic, masks are trivial to sew -- from a dude who can barely sew
 
PaulMarcel said:
If it wasn't for Joann's being completely sold out of elastic, masks are trivial to sew -- from a dude who can barely sew
Click to expand...

Well since they will need to be sterilized they could be made from material garnered from just about anywhere. WalMart has a fairly large fabric department. I know my wife has hit them at times when she needs something and doesn't want to drive to Joann's which is over 25 miles away. They are the closest to us at just under 5 miles away, everybody else (Joanns, malls, etc.) is over 15 miles away.
 
I am a physician in Oregon, my hospital has a week supply of N95. We expect this coming week that the Tsunami of infected patient will start coming in and we will be hurting for all type of supplies by mid April. Covid19 is worse then the flue because it is so contagious and you are contagious before showing signs that you have it. The number of people infected double every 2-4.5 days.  Only 10% of patients will need medical support, we can handle this if they are spread out over 6-8 months, we cannot if they come over the next 2 months.

The whole world need the same supplies as we do and factories can't keep up. Mortality will go from, 0.7 up to 3.9%, if we cannot slow the speed of it's spread as  it will overwhelm our health care capacity. This is hitting the elder the most, but we are seeing a lot of younger patient ending in the ICU.

Most important things we need is:

1-Social distancing and respect the shelter in place orders. We will see the first positive results of this in three weeks and a fall in cases in 9 weeks. This is the life cycle of this pandemic.

2-Any N95 or higher you have give them to hospital or first responders, we need them. Box of disposal gloves are also welcome.
 
FWIW,
In my woodshop and my landscaping, I often am very sensitive to dust. I always carry a bandana sized handkerchief in my pocket. always have one in my first aid kit. I fold it into a triangle, tie it over my face and I am good to go. If the dust is super fine, I will wet the whole thing, wring it out and keep making dust. Sometimes, my glasses will fog up if i have wet the cloth and have not wrung it out enough.  In that case, i just rinse it off, wring it out more forcefully and go back to making dust.

The bandana approach is not good enough for hospitals >>> yet, but I think it is good enough for shop work.
Tinker
 
PaulMarcel said:
But the whole topic came up in a whiskey/bourbon group. 
Click to expand...
Great way of social distancing....( assuming you guys made jt a skype conference)

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While searching my shop for surplus N95 masks I found a dual cartridge organ vapor respirator that I’d never used. It had been sitting upside down (inside up) undisturbed for probably 20 years. The body is pvc-vinyl of some kind and about a 1/2 teaspoon of plasticizer had come back out of the plastic and accumulated in a low spot. Very icky. In clean the mask I realized that it was no longer flexible enough (without the plasticizer) that it wouldn’t seal well enough to be useful (for organic vapors anyway) so I removed the unused cartridges and trashed the mask.

In the same drawer I found an AO Smith single cartridge mask that is at least as old but made with a rubber compound and it is still good.
 
The local ambulance crew was most grateful for the few spare, unopened N95 masks I had in the shop. 
 
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