CULLMAN, Ala. – As many healthcare workers across the nation struggle with shortages of sanitary face masks, some craft workers are using their skills to help combat the shortage and Cullman is no exception. Sharon Spiegle, a Cullman County resident, heard from workers at the Cullman Health Care Center that there was a shortage of masks, so she bought fabric, elastic cord, and HEPA air filters and got to work. At the time The Tribune spoke with her, Spiegle had completed nine masks on her own (she had only been working on the project for just under a day) and mentioned she had several friends who offered their help as well in case she got more requests than she could handle.
Spiegle told The Tribune that she had been praying to find out if there was anything, she could do to help people during the quarantine period and her friend at the nursing home mentioned the lack of masks. Spiegle said it felt like an answer to her prayers.
“I knew that this was something I could do to help the people who needed it most while still staying at home,” she said. “I knew that once word got around the nursing home about these masks, I’d have my work cut out for me. Fortunately, I have some friends who offered to help out if it got to be too much for me, so if I get a lot more requests, we can just make an assembly line.” She mentioned she was almost unable to do the project due to difficulty finding elastic cord, but God provided for her and she found what she needed.
When asked about the difficulty of the project, Spiegle said that cutting out the fabric was the hardest part. “It’s a pretty simple pattern, so just cutting out the fabric would be the hardest thing. Once you finish that, you just sew the edges, attach the elastic bands, and slide the filter into the pocket.”
Though she described the assembly process for the masks as fairly easy, the cost of the items was another large issue for her.
“I was talking to my pastor and his wife about filters in these masks, and they said that HEPA filters are better than regular air filters because they keep out a lot more than just dust and dirt. But those filters are expensive if you need to make a lot of masks, and I don’t think I’ll be able to keep giving them away for free if people keep asking for them.”
Many different patterns for face masks, including ones with pockets for air filters, can be found on crafting or sewing websites and blogs. If you know of any essential workers whose employers are low on masks and you are able, please consider following Mrs. Spiegle’s example and make some. Although homemade masks may not be as effective as medical-grade masks, they still provide protection for people who are risking their health for us because their jobs cannot possibly be done online.
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