Photo above includes some of our health care professionals wearing masks made by community volunteers. (Use this pattern only.) They now have over 500 of the 3000 they need!
Here’s the list! There’s something for everyone!
Go here of all sorts of volunteer activities to help during this pandemic.
Our health care workers want to say “thanks for the awesome masks and please make more!”
From Amy Towner of the Health Care Foundation for Ventura County – “Your sewn mask donations are going into the hands of healthcare workers at both Ventura County Medical Center and at Santa Paula Hospital as a personal gift to them with the message that their community appreciates and values them. In a clinical setting, ideally, we want authentic personal protective equipment (PPE). With the national shortage and unavailability, our community (all of you) was not ok with that answer and found a way to help by using their talents at the sewing machine with readily available resources like cotton fabric to create a mask style that has been used for hundreds of years to protect those delivering care to us. These masks can be washed and sterilized hospital grade laundering and autoclave. Paired with the 3D shields, this duo from the community is great protection compared to no protection in the event PPE runs out. Our healthcare workers feel the time, energy and quality of the finished product. “We can’t buy masks made this well.” “These are incredibly comfortable, with great coverage and encourages me not to touch my face” are just a few comments amongst all the thanks and gratitude.”
If you want to join the mask-making volunteer brigade, go here for fabric specifications, how-to video and downloadable instructions and pattern. The hospital requires this very specific pattern which was designed by a nurse. It has no elastic, which dissolves in autoclaves and causes irritation around ears, and is the required size, shape and strength to last for 5 months.
New drop off locations for PPE (personal protection equipment)
This week, the Ventura County Office of Emergency Services began accepting donations at three drop-off locations: Assembly member Jacqui Irwin’s offices in Oxnard and Camarillo and the Ventura County Community Foundation in Camarillo. The county is requesting new and unused surgical masks, N-95 masks, procedure masks, isolation gowns, medical goggles, dracon culture swabs and Tyvek suits.
Needs list for PPE’s.
| Donations as of 3/26/20 9:30 pm | Current supply |
| N95 | 5582 |
| Gloves | 606 |
| Surgical Masks | 1920 |
| ISO Gowns | 4 |
| Goggles | 254 |
| Shields | 129 |
| Sewn Masks (need = 3000) | 532 |
| Swabs | 38 |
| Baby Monitors (need = 100) | 11 |
| Sanitizer | 1 |
Gofundme for protective Gear for Medical Staff at VCMC & SPH
“We are the healthcare professionals and staff of Ventura County Medical Center and Santa Paula Hospital, and we need your help. We choose to work at our hospitals because we believe that everyone deserves quality medical care. We are the county’s safety net, and we are going to be here for our community throughout the coronavirus crisis.
While our hospital leadership and staff have done a remarkable job of preparation in the face of the COVID pandemic, in light of the severe shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE) that have affected every hospital hit hard by COVID so far, we recognize the need for innovative approaches that will allow us to safely care for patients and conserve valuable PPE.
A donation of any size will allow us to continue protecting ourselves and our families, so that we can continue caring for you and yours. Please help if you can.”
Do you have an RV you can loan to a healthcare worker?
“A spontaneous idea by a Dallas-area woman for keeping her doctor husband quarantined from the rest of the family when he is off duty during the coronavirus crisis has blossomed into ad hoc, national volunteer service to match medical personnel with people willing to donate an RV or camper.
The idea, launched a week ago, is simple: Provide a cheap way for medical personnel to remain near their families without risking infecting them.,,,
Her one requirement: the whole process must be entirely free.”No dollars are to be exchanged,” she said. “It is completely and totally donations.”
If you do, please write about what you can offer here.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 