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Sewing for Lives: 11,000 volunteers are sewing mask covers

Sewing for Lives: 11,000 volunteers are sewing cloth mask covers to go over the n95 masks (medical masks) to extend their use to help healthcare professionals.

by

Alison Lafazan

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Sewing for Lives
Megan Jansen, Founder of Sewing for Lives. Photos courtesy of Megan Jansen.

“I was just thinking to myself that it’s crazy that we’re in a position where we may not have the necessary ‘personal protective equipment,’ (PPE)” says Megan Jansen, Registered Nurse at Salt Lake Regional Hospital and founder of Sewing for Lives, “How are we going to protect our patients if we can’t even protect ourselves?”

Wanting to help her healthcare family during this covid 19 pandemic, Jansen reached out to the local community through facebook in March to get help making cloth mask covers to go over the n95 masks to extend their use. She wanted to preserve the integrity of the medical masks. “Most medical masks get soiled and you have to throw them out,” says Jansen, “You can’t reuse them.”

Within hours of creating her facebook page, Sewing for Lives, hundreds of people had signed up to sew mask covers, within days there were thousands. Currently there are close to 11,000 volunteers sewing mask covers. “What started out as a grassroots movement has just exploded,” says Jansen. “It’s nice to know when healthcare needs help, the community is there to help.”

medical mask

Following the Center for Disease Control, (CDC), guidelines, Jansen recruited volunteers to help design the 100% cotton mask covers and the directions for putting them together. To find out who was in need of mask covers, they reached out to the local health care facilities and first responders. Word spread quickly across the United States via Sewing for Lives’ facebook page. The Sewing for Lives volunteers have made and delivered over 111,000 mask covers to over 300 healthcare facilities across the nation.

“I’ve sewn 400 mask covers,” says Millie Burningham, local volunteer seamstress, “I’ve delivered them to Huntsman Center, Utah Healthcare Association and the YWCA.

One 100% cotton t-shirt can be used to make over 100 ties and the sleeves are used for a no-sew mask. “I hope to get more donations of unused t-shirts so we can continue to make more no-sew masks for the homeless population,” says Jansen, “They are quick and easy.”

cloth mask covers

The demand is still high for mask covers. “We are actively searching for volunteer seamstresses,” says Jansen, “We’re looking for any skill set we can utilize in a volunteer.

When the pandemic slows down, Sewing for Lives plans to continue sewing multi use medical masks for nonprofit organizations.

Facebook Sewing for Lives COVID Response Team

 

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Alison Lafazan

Alison has been writing human interest stories and highlighting local businesses for Utah Stories since she graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Communications in 2014. She has also contributed a few photographs to accompany her stories. Wanting to learn about Utah’s local businesses and activities is what led Alison to start reading Utah Stories and eventually writing for them. She transferred to Salt Lake City from Houston, Texas with her job with a major airline. She is reluctant to call Utah home even though she has lived here for more than 30 years. Alison was born in Texas, but has also lived in Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Idaho. She’s still trying to figure out where to call home, but she likes the west the best. Working for an airline gives her the opportunity to pursue her passion for traveling. If she’s not working or traveling, she is hanging out with her husband.

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