Two Facebook groups organized by Wichitans are donating thousands of face masks

As Kendra McBroom stocked up on fabric supplies in the past, the president of the Prairie Quilt Guild of Kansas would joke that she was saving for retirement.

For the past couple of weeks, she’s been spending some of her retirement stash on making fabric face masks.

She’s made at least 175 face masks to give to family, friends, neighbors and other places that are asking for the masks, she said in a phone interview earlier this week after dropping off 90 masks to fulfill a request from Heartspring, a local facility that provides services to children with special needs.

Like McBroom, seamstresses across the Wichita area have been making fabric masks to help respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.

They’ve also been sharing patterns, tips and information about supplies — like the shortage of elastic and what to substitute — on two local Facebook groups dedicated to mask-making.

The Project Protect ICT Facebook page was started by Stella Hankins, owner of Bella Bonita Designs. She’s been coordinating pickups and deliveries of donated masks for senior communities, medical practices and other large groups.

The Masks for ICT Facebook page was started by Aram Coyle, whose husband, Dave, owns In the Bag Cleaners. The business is involved in collecting and sanitizing handmade cloth masks before Project Protect ICT distributes them. By Wednesday, the business had cleaned and packaged about 1,400 masks, David Coyle said.

Handmade fabric masks will likely become even more in demand. Late Friday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended that all people wear face masks while in public.

Like the CDC, Dr. Garold Minns, an infectious disease expert and Sedgwick County’s chief medical officer, cautioned that the handmade fabric masks would likely not prevent a wearer from getting infected with the novel coronavirus, but they could help minimize the spread of the disease if the wearer is asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, which means they’re carrying the virus but not showing symptoms. As many as 25 percent of people infected with coronavirus may not show symptoms.

A cloth mask could help prevent fewer and larger droplets from becoming airborne, which is how the virus spreads.

“The mask is starting to symbolize that we recognize the problem and we are wanting to help flatten the curve,” Hankins said.

Wanting to help

Many local seamstresses started sewing face masks after a March 19 Facebook request by the Stillwell Medical Center in Oklahoma for handmade masks went viral. The post included a pattern and other tips.

“I got to talking to some of my friends and the main theme I heard was that they felt helpless while others are on the front lines,” McBroom said. Sewing masks “feeds our nurture spirit and helps calm our fears.”

McBroom, like many other quilters, had plenty of supplies on hand to start making the masks.

Nationwide and locally, Joann Fabrics stores have been providing free mask-making kits, too. Hen Feathers, a local quilt store, has also donated fabric to seamstresses for making masks, said owner Peggy Engel.

As president of the 535-member Prairie Quilt Guild of Kansas — one of the largest quilt guilds in the country — McBroom has been able to mobilize several seamstresses through the guild’s Facebook page and her personal page.

“I would safely say that about a third of our members are making them and if each one made 10 that’s a whole lot of masks to provide to Wichita and the surrounding communities,” she said.

Several patterns can be found online, through websites and Facebook. Some patterns and posts include recommendations of fabrics, whether to use elastic or fabric ties to keep them on the face and more. Creative substitutes, like using bra cups or hair ties, are also being posted.

“For every 10 people you talk to, you’ll get 10 different stories about how to make them so you do the best you can,” said McBroom, who retired three years ago from a 40-year career as a manufacturing engineer with Cessna.

Looking at alternatives

With news reports coming out about mask shortages for health care workers, many seamstresses thought the fabric masks could be used by doctors and nurses.

That’s what Holly Woo, a Spanish teacher with the Derby schools, thought when she started making a few while on spring break. Then family members in the medical field told her they wouldn’t offer enough protection for front-line caregivers.

The N95 mask, which is in short supply nationwide and being rationed by some hospitals, is made of a denser, less porous material so the airborne virus can’t pass through it, Minns said. That keeps the health care worker better protected.

Some donated cloth masks have made their way to Wesley Medical Center and Ascension Via Christi hospitals, spokespersons confirmed, but those hospitals aren’t currently soliciting any donations of cloth masks.

“I’ve heard that some workers are using the (cloth) masks on top of the N95 as a prefilter to extend the life of the N95,” said Dave Coyle, the dry-cleaning store owner.

Dr. Lillian Blue, a hospitalist with the University of Kansas pediatrics and Wesley Children’s Hospital, said using cloth masks over an N-95 mask is one alternative she’s investigating as part of a COVID-19 preparedness team at Wesley. She’s looking at different alternatives that could be considered if the N95 mask shortage persists, she said.

A seamstress herself, Blue said she’s connected with Project Protect ICT and Hankins to explore using surgical wrap instead of fabric to make the DIY face masks. She’s also looking at how a HEPA or similar filter could be inserted into a pocket of the DIY cloth masks.

Donating the cloth masks

Through Project Protect ICT, the grassroots effort started by the Bella Bonita Designs business and Wichita State’s GoCreate, Hankins has been organizing pickups and deliveries of handmade cloth masks every Wednesday and Friday.

Her drivers are doing porch pickups from seamstresses who have made at least 10 or more masks, as well as pickups from the two In the Bag Cleaners stores in Wichita — at 2250 N. Ridge Road and 3700 N. Woodlawn — that are accepting cloth face mask donations. Masks may be dropped off at the drive through windows from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays.

Hankins’ drivers have made deliveries to Presbyterian Manor facilities and other area nursing and retirement homes, the Kansas Medical Center and several medical practices that have requested donations, she said.

Requests for pickups and deliveries may be emailed to projectprotectict@gmail.com, Hankins said.

She’s created a GoFundMe project to help purchase supplies for masks made by the women in sober recovery that she employs. The donations also will offset the expenses of the pickups and deliveries that she’s been paying for out-of-pocket.

The Robert J. Dole Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 5500 E. Kellogg Ave., put out a call Thursday for donations of cloth masks for its employees and patients. The masks must be at least two-ply and made of cotton, said Eva Gergely, the medical center’s voluntary service chief. Email eva.gergely@va.gov or call 316-685-2221 ext. 53222 for donation directions.

If you wear a mask

Wearing a cloth mask may help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus if the wearer is asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic, however, Infectious disease experts caution that wearing a cloth mask will likely not prevent a wearer from getting infected with the virus.

“I don’t want people to have a false security that this will prevent you from getting it,” said Minns, the county’s public health officer.

Experts stress that masks are an extra precaution but shouldn’t replace other advised preventative behaviors like frequent hand washing and social distancing.

For some wearers, the mask is a physical reminder to not touch one’s face, which also helps reduce the spread of germs.

Minns suggests that if you wear cloth masks that you always wear a clean one. Have two or three on hand, he said, so you can have a fresh one available.

To launder, the CDC website said that in general, use a normal laundry detergent and wash and dry laundry thoroughly using the warmest temperatures recommended on the clothing label.

According to WebMD, to kill germs in laundry, you should use hot water of at least 104 degrees Fahrenheit and dry with heat for 45 minutes.

This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 12:00 AM.