If you are going to be stuck at home with time on your hands, why not do something that will help the effort to slow the spread of COVID-19?

That is what a group of hundreds of Good Samaritans is doing in Kingston by sewing together facemasks that will be distributed to patients who are entering local hospitals for tests or treatment.

A few thousand fabric masks have been produced so far, and Kingston Health Sciences Centre is expected to begin handing them out to patients and visitors in the next few days. People will be able to take them home to wash and reuse for their next visit.

Similar efforts are being seen around the world, but the group in Kingston has been organized via a Facebook page, which has seen its membership jump several hundred people in just over a week. One of the people behind the page is Meghan Engbretson, who works in infection control at Kingston General Hospital.

“We had a number of people offer to sew masks. I don’t know where people got the idea from originally,” Engbretson recalled. “We thought it would be a really great idea for patients coming in, especially people with longer appointments such as dialysis or cancer therapies.”

Being mostly made of common fabric and elastics, the masks can’t be used by medical professionals, but they can help prevent the spread of the virus inside the hospital by people who need to go there.

The handmade masks have even been incorporated into KHSC’s drive to ask for donations of real personal protective equipment from the community. Hospital spokesperson Christine Maloney said the masks are greatly appreciated.

“We are grateful for the generosity of many of our community members who have been sewing homemade face masks. While they are not considered official PPE, home-sewn masks are useful and can be protective for many patients, such as renal patients, who are still coming to our sites for outpatient care,” Maloney said.

Anyone who wants to become involved and make masks is asked to reach out to maskskgh@gmail.com

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