14
Wednesday, April 8, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
FACE MASKS:
New guidelines
suggest benefit
Continued from page 1
and quilters around Sisters
Country, both professional
and amateur, sat down in front
of their sewing machines with
just one pattern on their mind:
face masks for healthcare
workers battling the COVID-
19 outbreak. With hospitals,
senior homes, first responders
and even essential businesses
putting out desperate calls for
masks, <sewist= Lori Chase,
a Sisters resident, has been
answering the need for more
masks.
Chase told The Nugget,
<We are at war with a virus
that is attacking our world
and we need to be proactive
in taking defensive and pre-
ventative measures to com-
bat it. Wearing a mask in the
stores and post office is one
way to prevent from touching
the virus and transferring it to
our faces.=
It was Chase9s niece, a
nurse at Emmanuel Hospital
in Portland in the COVID-19
unit, that inspired her to start
making homemade masks.
<Although there is a group
of us trying to reach the hos-
pitals, store clerks, postal ser-
vice workers and all of those
who are serving us in our
community, we need help,=
she said. <Break out your
sewing machines and teach
yourself how to make a mask
for yourself, your family
members and your friends.=
She added, <Although
the hospitals are asking for
ties, elastic masks for resi-
dents and merchants go much
faster.=
Local artist Kathy
Deggendorfer has been craft-
ing two masks an hour.
<I made a dozen for the
Pete Shepherd campaign 5
day/500 mask project last
week,= she said. <I have done
another batch for friends and
family and just gave one to
Renee, owner of Fika Sisters
Coffeehouse in Sisters.=
Deggendorfer had her car
worked on at Van Handel
Automotive and offered to
make some for the staff that
work there and delivered six
for their crew.
St. Charles Health System
has launched a 10,000-masks
campaign and is asking for
the public9s help once again
with the donation of masks
4 this time, hand-sewn ones.
More than 2,500 home-
made masks have already
been donated, and St. Charles
is now hoping to get 7,500
more 4 enough to provide
every caregiver with two
masks that they can launder
and reuse.
Collaborating with health
care professionals and volun-
teers, St. Charles has decided
on a pattern that is both
functional and comfortable
for caregivers. (See pages
12-13 for sewing pattern.)
After the masks are
donated at one of a number
of sites around the region,
(Sisters drop off for masks
is St. Charles Family Care
Clinic) they will be pro-
fessionally laundered by
St. Charles in accordance
with Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention
recommendations.
The hand-sewn masks are
not approved personal pro-
tection equipment, or PPE,
which must be worn by care-
givers who are in contact
with a person who is known
or suspected to have COVID-
19 or any other infectious
disease.
Tonye Phillips, featured
quilter for the 2020 Sisters
Outdoor Quilt Show, has
recently jumped on the
10,000-mask campaign band
wagon after sewing a few for
family.
Phillips said, <I do hope to
set up more of a production
line this coming week. I am
inspired to do so for obvious
reasons 4 the frontline of
this battle against the virus
needs them desperately! I
received the newsletter from
St. Charles healthcare as they
are my providers, so I have
downloaded one of the pat-
terns they have posted. They
are actually really fun to
make and offer almost instant
gratification. Plus, what a
great way to use some of the
fabrics I have acquired over
the years and stashed away. It
feels good to make them and
everyone is so grateful. And,
it feels really good to be able
to do something that might
actually help.=
Chris Laing, ombudsman
for The Lodge in Sisters, had
already joined the mask mak-
ing cause on behalf of Pete
Shepherd9s 5 day/500 mask
initiative and is now sew-
ing masks for the St. Charles
10,000 mask campaign. Laing
is making them with the Age
Friendly Sisters Country
group for the hospital.
Local artist Randall
Tillery and wife Valerie, a
quilter, have also jumped on
board with the St. Charles
Health System9s 10,000 mask
campaign.
<There is a need and it9s
something that Valerie does
well that I can help with,=
Tillery explained. <We are
both so saddened and con-
cerned with what we are all
going through as a nation.
Our healthcare workers
should have the PPE that they
need to do their jobs as safely
as they can. In my book, they
are all heroes. They are risk-
ing their lives every day to
help their fellow Americans.
<We dropped off 20
last week at St. Charles
in Sisters and are making
more. They distribute them
to various agencies such as
St. Charles Hospital, Bend
Police Department, Summit
Medical Group Urgent
Care and Deschutes County
Sheriff Department.=
While masks are believed
to offer some protection, their
use should not provide a false
sense of invulnerability. With
the news that federal authori-
ties may recommend wear-
ing masks in public, Oregon
Health Authority reminded
2005 JEEP
EP GRAND CHEROKEEE L LIMITED
IMITED
Bring us your trade-ins
and low-mileage
consignments!
Randall Tillery is one of many Sisters area residents who are making
masks to support healthcare workers.
Oregonians that staying
home and avoiding all non-
essential contact with oth-
ers continues to be the most
important thing all of us can
do to stay healthy and keep
others healthy.
OHA notes that wearing a
fabric mask can help prevent
the spread of infection to oth-
ers when the mask is worn
by someone who already is
infected with the virus that
causes COVID-19, particu-
larly if the person is cough-
ing. The mask may block
some infectious droplets
from spreading when some-
one with the infection coughs
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or sneezes.
Paul Cieslak, MD, medi-
cal director for communi-
cable diseases, OHA Public
Health Division said that data
does not tell them how much
protection homemade cloth
masks provide to the person
wearing a homemade mask.
<For this reason,= he said,
<homemade and fabric masks
should not be considered reli-
able protection; but they may
provide some benefit.=
For those who don9t sew
but want a mask for their per-
sonal use, Bedouin will have
masks for purchase soon at
www.shopbedouin.com.
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Visit sistersrecreation.com
for updates and “like” us on our
Facebook page for virtual
recreation opportunities.
Thank You, Sisters…
Everywhere we look we see the Sisters community
coming together. A special thanks to all those
supporting local businesses, many of whom have
had to close or restrict the way they do business.
We should all respect our social distancing and continue
to reach out to those in need. A shoutout to the terrifi c
Kiwanis Food Bank and Furry Friends Foundation.
THANKS AGAIN AND KEEP UP
THE GOOD WORK!
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