Prowers County resident Brittany King is among a team of volunteers that has retrofitted nearly 1,000 reusable isolation gowns and 2,000 facemasks for Prowers Medical Center.

Talk about putting free time to good use.

Nearly every week over the past two months, Brittany has followed a similar routine. On Monday, she has left her home for the hospital to pick up boxes of material from Prowers Medical Center.

The following Monday, after she and dozens of volunteers have retrofitted the material into personnel protective equipment needed by the hospital, she has returned the completed gowns and masks and picked up more boxes. Then she and other volunteers – many on hiatus from their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic – have gone back to work.

Community effort

King and her team are among more than four dozen community volunteers who generously donated their time and sewing prowess to make masks and gowns to help protect Prowers Medical Center caregivers and patients. Disposable isolation gowns, which are an important piece of personal protective equipment used by health care workers in the battle against COVID-19, had critical supply shortages leading the hospital to seek a safe, reusable alternative.

Last week, King dropped off her final 40 gowns of the nearly 1,000 units she and her colleagues stitched, bringing the hospital’s isolation gown sewing initiative to a fitting – and extremely successful – close.

As a result of the community’s support, the hospital’s supply of in-demand isolation gowns and facemasks have been extended by several weeks.

“We want everyone who participated in this effort to know how humbled and thankful we are for the help we have received– whether you were able to sew one box or dozens of them,” said Tina Sandoval, Chief Clinical Officer for Prowers Medical Center. “To think that people would give of themselves so generously is truly heartwarming.”

Already in use

Even before King dropped of the latest batch of reusable isolation gowns on Monday, some of the units returned by community volunteers were in use by Prowers Medical Center caregivers. Each item undergoes a thorough quality control check and sterilization before being distributed to the medical center’s team.

King said she felt compelled to help when she learned of the sewing initiative on Facebook. She has several friends and relatives who work in health care, and as a nursing student she understands the importance of the personal protective equipment to front-line care providers and patients.

“I wanted to help,” King says. “We want to keep the doctors and nurses safe.”

“What an overwhelming response! We are truly blessed,” said Amber Rider, Chair of the Prowers Medical Center Foundation, who coordinated the volunteers working on this project. “Thanks to an outpouring of community support, the need for volunteers to help with our PPE sewing initiative has been met.”

The entire team at Prowers Medical Center offers a heartfelt thank you to the more four dozen volunteers who are helping with this important initiative. With every stitch, you are helping keep our front-line health care providers and patients safe as we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.