Days after beginning to work remotely in mid-March, Albright Associate Professor of TheatreandFashionand Costume Shop Coordinator,Paula Trimpey, M.F.A., heard that supplies for nurses were already in critical supply. So she fired up her sewing machine and began making face masks for anyone who asked. Associate Professor ofChemistry and Biochemistry,Christian S. Hamann, Ph.D., took up the charge of sterilizing the masks.

It started with a theatre alumnus who wanted some for a family member with a compromised immune system and went on to many,many friends and family members, said Trimpey. So far, the masks have gone to a Doctor of Pharmacology at John Hopkins in Baltimore, a nurse at theReading Dialysis Unit,Albright College Public Safety and Aramark Food Services at Albright, said Trimpey.

We use 100% cotton with a high thread count since this also bleaches well. The ties allow for any size face/head where elastic masks can sag on small faces/heads.

On April 3, Governor Tom Wolfcalled for all Pennsylvanians to wear maskswhen venturing away from home, but to reserve surgical and medical mask for health care workers and first responders.

Masks help prevent people from sharing illnesses, said Wolf. But, they dont do a great job at keeping people from getting sick; and, theyre not foolproof, so it is critical that our first act is to ask ourselves if we really need to leave our house. If we dont really, truly need to leave, then we shouldnt.

To help others create homemade masks, Trimpey and Hamann created a series offive how-to videos, showing the full process, from cutting patterns to sterilizing finished masks.

>Watch videos

Read more:
Albright College Fashion and Chemistry Faculty Connect to Make Fabric Face Masks - bctv.org