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The news was grim. Staff at Valley View Hospital in Glenwood
Springs, Colo., were being updated about concerns administration
had about the impact the coronavirus outbreak would have on
their ability to stock adequate levels of PPE, particularly N95
masks that offer the highest level of protection against COVID-19.
Brady Heuer, BSN, RN, CNOR, and Kristen Dirksen, RN, AND,
immediately began to brainstorm ways they could help offset the
PPE shortage. That evening, the surgical nurses used tape and pins
to create the prototype of a homemade mask. The next morning,
Ms. Heuer presented the design at gathering of hospital leaders,
who gave her a standing ovation and put their full support behind
mass-producing the mask. By noon, Ms. Heuer was at the local
Walmart with her surgical director and materials manager to buy
the supplies needed to produce the masks. The bought six sewing
machines, scissors, measuring boards, thread, pins, rulers and
cleared the shelves of 6,000 pipe cleaners, which are smartly used
to create the mask's nose support.
Ms. Heuer and Ms. Dirksen set up shop in a hospital conference
room, where they organized assembly-line crews who cut, pinned
Teaming Up to Solve a Shortage
• MASK CRUSADERS Kristen Dirksen, RN, AND (left), and Brady Heuer, BSN, RN, CNOR, designed a homemade mask and
managed teams who produced 20,655 of them.
PPE PRODUCTION
Anna
Stonehouse
Pictures
