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Two Swampscott teachers are making face masks for healthcare workers
By Gayla Cawley | March 31, 2020
SWAMPSCOTT — Schools may be closed, but two Swampscott teachers are using their time off to sew fabric face masks for healthcare workers.
Their efforts are aimed at combating the protective mask shortage nurses and doctors have encountered as they continue to treat coronavirus patients.
Both Swampscott Middle School teachers are donating their homemade masks through SPUR, a Marblehead-based nonprofit that has spearheaded the initiative locally and distributes the gear to healthcare workers in need.
Lindsey McKeen Polizzotti, who teaches science at the town’s middle school, said she found out about SPUR’s initiative through Facebook and felt it was something she could do to help out while she’s confined to her Swampscott home.
“I’m doing it mostly because it makes me feel good to be able to help in a time of crisis and I just appreciate the doctors and the nurses who are putting themselves at risk to protect us,” said McKeen Polizzotti, 35. “This is a way (to help) by self-isolating and also providing them with masks for better protection.”
For McKeen Polizzotti, it’s like picking up an old hobby, as she’s done sewing and quilting in the past and had lots of old fabric lying around. She’s also received donations from neighbors.
Since she started last week, McKeen Polizzotti has made about 45 masks, but is aiming to complete at least 100. In addition to donating to SPUR, she’s shared some with friends who work as nurses, and her parents and in-laws to give them some protection when they go to their doctors’ appointments.
“I don’t really care who I donate to as long as they get used,” she said.
Jessica Massanari Sapp, a Spanish teacher at the middle school, is well-aware of the strain the shortage of face masks is creating for healthcare workers as her brother and father are both physicians.
Her brother has told her supplies in Denver, where he works, are way down. He’s been asked to put his used masks in bags, and continue to use them during the outbreak, which he’s never had to do before.
“They’re definitely feeling it,” said Massanari Sapp, 41. “Some hospitals are already out of disposables.”
So, she said she began looking into what she could do to help and noticed that people were making homemade masks. When she was searching for where she could make her donations, she came across SPUR’s local initiative.
“I wanted it to be a product that can be useful,” said Massanari Sapp. “I know it doesn’t compare to the sterilized stuff they have. I was checking in with the healthcare workers in my family to see if this was going to be something helpful.”
Although she’s only been at it for about a week, she said she’s blown past her first goal of 50 masks. As of Sunday, she has 83 made. Her goal is 100, but she plans to keep going until she runs out of materials.
Along with sewing fabrics together, Massanari Sapp fashions each mask with a metal nose bridge for a better fit and space for healthcare workers to attach a filter. She also sterilizes each mask before she donates them to SPUR.
“I think it’s hard for people at home to figure out ways they can be helpful or contribute and this was one small way I could be active while staying safe and without leaving the house,” said Massanari Sapp. “It’s easy to feel helpless during these times and if you can find some small way to contribute, it’s helpful for your wellbeing.”
As much as the two teachers are happy to help out, they recognize that some places may not allow their doctors and nurses to use homemade, fabric masks, as they may not adequately provide protection from the coronavirus.
“The reality is policy varies greatly on who can use them, how they can be used,” said Jocelyn Cook, founder and executive director of SPUR, which serves Lynn, Marblehead, Salem and Swampscott.
Cook said most of the masks they receive are going to nursing homes and private medical practices. However, one OB-GYN from a large North Shore hospital has been picking them up for her team to use.
Other healthcare workers have reached out about wanting to use the masks for training purposes, as they anticipate a surge of new virus patients in the next two weeks and want to know how to set a ventilator with a mask in use, Cook said.
“They don’t want to use any of the (FDA)-approved medical masks and further deplete the supply,” said Cook. “So they’re going to use, even though most of the hospitals are saying they can’t be used in a hospital setting.”
According to guidelines listed on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website, in settings where face masks are not available, healthcare professionals may use homemade masks for care of patients with COVID-19 as a last resort.
“However, homemade masks are not considered PPE (personal protective equipment), since their capability to protect (healthcare providers) is unknown,” reads the website. “Caution should be exercised when considering this option.”
Cook said the feedback she has received indicates the protective gear has gone to use so far. About 28 volunteers are making the masks and since collection started on March 22, the organization has received 57 homemade face masks.
“I think this is such an unprecedented time and I don’t think people would expect to go to work and not have the equipment they need to safely do their jobs,” said Cook. “The people who are able to use them are appreciative to have them and grateful that people care enough to try to figure out how to make them.”