"Charity is giving people what they need to get instead of what you want to give."

The urge to help in times of crisis is powerful and wonderful. If a health care worker directly requests a homemade face mask, make her one by all means. However, be aware that many health care workers in our area are actively avoiding homemade cloth masks. Don't be offended. Here's the reason why:

A cluster randomised trial of cloth masks compared with medical masks in healthcare workers

"Laboratory tests showed the penetration of particles through the cloth masks to be very high (97%) compared with medical masks (44%) (used in trial) and 3M 9320 N95 (<0.01%), 3M Vflex 9105 N95 (0.1%).... The physical properties of a cloth mask, reuse, the frequency and effectiveness of cleaning, and increased moisture retention, may potentially increase the infection risk for HCWs. The virus may survive on the surface of the facemasks,29 and modelling studies have quantified the contamination levels of masks.30 ."

Instead, here are three ideas that will help give a boost to ALL health care workers:

1) If you can, give blood! https://www.vitalant.org/Home.aspx 

2) Pool your resources with friends to support health care workers AND your local restaurants at the same time: order takeout for 20-30 people to be sent to your neighborhood hospital. 

3) Follow Valerie Sweeney's lead in her email "Medical professionals and PPE" and try some local advocacy to help track down medically approved personal protective equipment. 

Thank you for being great neighbors.

Lauren