Arnold woman sews masks to help health care workers during coronavirus pandemic

Lisa Wilson of Arnold has a lot of material and time on her hands. So she’s spending both making face masks for health care workers.

“I wanted to do something for somebody,” Wilson said. “I wanted to do something that was needed.”

Wilson began making face masks last week with supplies she had lying around her house. She needed to do something to pass the time after she lost her jobs this month because of the coronavirus pandemic. She calls her project “Donation Dozen.”

“l try to make a dozen for each place,” said Wilson, 55.

As of Tuesday, Wilson had donated a dozen masks each to Belair Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center in Lower Burrell, Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison and New Kensington Ambulance Service.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Health Rachel Levine said health care workers working directly with covid-19 patients should be using N95 masks, which are rated to protect wearers from airborne particles and liquids.

Levine said homemade masks aren’t “super effective in protecting people, but I guess it’s better than nothing.”

“I think that it’s really important that people not become complacent, that they not have a false sense of security that they might have a homemade mask on, thus they are not susceptible to contracting covid-19 and they go out and about,” Levine said. “We want people to stay home.”

Wilson acknowledged that her masks won’t protect wearers against covid-19. But they can be worn over medical-grade masks to make them last longer, she said.

“I know it’s not going to protect them from the virus, but something over their face is better than nothing when liquids and stuff go flying,” Wilson said. “Nothing except a medical mask is going to keep the virus away.”

The masks are made of cotton fabric, elastic and other materials. Wilson started her project after a friend of hers who works at Belair said the facility needed them.

She used a video made by Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind., as a frame of reference. It purports to show people how to properly make masks for health care workers.

“The only thing I did differently than the video is I decided to put a filter inside my mask, because I thought the more that I can keep the dust or whatever off their face, the better,” Wilson said.

Rachelle Lutz, a paramedic with New Kensington Ambulance Service, thinks Wilson is doing a good thing. She said Wilson’s masks can be used over their N95 masks or as a backup if their supply of N95 masks runs low.

“It’s pretty awesome of her to add a little color, add a little bit of a smile to someone’s face, hopefully, in an otherwise stressful situation,” Lutz said.

Lutz said there is always the chance of someone donating homemade masks having covid-19, but people should know to take precautions. She said Wilson’s masks will be properly washed before they are handed out to personnel. The masks come in a Ziploc bag when they’re donated.

“They’re still in the bag,” Lutz said Tuesday. “They’ll be washed before they’re handed out.”

Wilson used interfacing fabric as a filter for the masks. That type of material is usually found in the collars of men’s dress shirts to make them stiff.

When Wilson ran out of that, she turned to embroidery stabilizer material, which is used to support fabric during stitching. She’s since ordered more interfacing fabric.

“On the internet I have seen people using furnace filters, and they’ve used flannel,” Wilson said. “But I didn’t want to go out shopping yet, so I was using what I had in my home.”

Wilson makes Barbie doll clothes in her spare time, a hobby she has been doing since she was in sixth grade. Because of that, she had all the materials to make the masks already at home.

“At first someone made the remark of, ‘You don’t have to make them so colorful and give them all personality, just make them plain.’ And I thought, ‘That’s not what I’m doing. I’m just using what I have,’ ” Wilson said. “They’re colorful, yeah I must admit, but they’re getting a chuckle out of them. It’s brightening their day. I do explain to them before I drop them off, ‘I’m sorry, but I’m just using the material that I have.’ ”

It takes Wilson about 15 minutes to make one mask. They have pleats under the chin to keep them in place. The corners and straps are reinforced to make sure they last through a couple weeks of washing.

Wilson makes sure to follow proper social distancing when she donates the masks. For example, when she brought the ambulance service their masks on Tuesday, she stayed in her car and stretched her arm out the window to give the bag to Lutz.

“I’m trying to keep two arm lengths away from everybody just because,” Wilson said.