Fort Worth accepting personal protective equipment donations for health care workers
The city of Fort Worth is accepting donations of personal protective equipment to help meet the high demand for items such as gloves, masks and gowns for health care workers.
Donations can be dropped off curbside between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth Donation Centers or Southwest Regional, East Regional, Summerglen and Northwest public libraries.
No homemade masks will be accepted and all donated items must be new and unopened.
Freeing up masks
Federal authorities say masks from the U.S. National Strategic Stockpile are being distributed and manufacturers have stepped up production but the masks haven’t made their way to many health care facilities in the Fort Worth area.
N95 respirators protect patients and staff from airborne particulate matter and are sometimes called masks. Surgical and routine-use masks are looser fitting and typically tie on or are looped around the ears.
Federal legislation signed on March 18 provides manufacturers of N95 face masks protection against lawsuits. That freed up millions of industrial grade masks used in industrial settings by painters, woodworkers and construction workers. These industrial grade masks can be found in hardware stores.
No homemade masks
Shortages of face masks have been reported for weeks, nationwide prompting a wave of sewing enthusiasts into action. The Joann Fabric and Craft Store said volunteers across the country have made more than 10 million masks and offers “how to videos” and instructions for making surgical masks.
But the National Nurses Union says homemade masks will not protect nurses if they are exposed to a patient with the COVID-19 virus.
“It is up to our elected officials to make sure there is a dramatically expanded supply of the equipment we need to protect nurses, other health care workers, and patients.”
“National Nurses United members are touched and extremely grateful for the many people graciously offering their time and effort to produce homemade masks from cloth and similar materials at a time when our members are severely short of proper personal protective equipment,” reads a recent news release from the union. “If we are sick, who will take care of patients in the face of this terrifying pandemic?”
All JPS health care workers are banned from using homemade or fabric face masks.
