They were once trash, now treasured. Fort Worth regional hub for mask decontamination
Inside the Will Rogers Convention Center about five minutes from downtown Fort Worth, a group of train containers have been transformed into decontamination stations for N95 surgical masks.
When the decontamination stations reach full capacity, workers will be able to recycle up to 80,000 N95 masks daily. Frontline healthcare workers used to throw away these masks after a single use.
With this decontamination strategy, a mask that was used once can be used up to 20 times.
Recycling efforts will not end the N95 mask shortage issues during the coronavirus pandemic, but the decontamination process will do a lot to stretch the available supply, officials said during a press conference this week. Masks can be returned within two to three days, authorities say.
The decontamination service is being offered to Texas frontline healthcare workers at no charge and is a joint effort between several private organizations and government agencies, according to Fort Worth Fire Department officials.
“We just need folks to take advantage of it,” Fort Worth Fire Chief Jim Davis said. “This is a community issue that will take a community solution to solve.”
The city of Fort Worth has partnered with Battelle Memorial Institute and will serve as a regional hub in Texas to assist first responders and healthcare facilities and systems throughout the state in prolonging their current supplies, according to a Fort Worth Fire Department news release.
Health care organizations and first responder agencies will need to register with Battelle to receive information, the release said. The partnership effort will allow the Fort Worth hub to serve Texas health care providers, “from the panhandle to the piney woods,” Davis said.
“We are pleased to partner with a highly recognized organization such as Battelle to help coordinate this process of prolonging our PPE,” Davis said. “It will allow Fort Worth to help our regional healthcare partners while continuing to provide care and maintain our inventory of N95 masks”.
The Pentagon has awarded Battelle a $415 million contract to decontaminate N95 masks, according to reporting by CNN.
The agreement between Battelle, the Defense Logistics Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Federal Emergency Management Agency allows the hub to offer the decontamination service at no charge to healthcare providers, according to the release.
Battelle has 40 sites operational nationwide and can scale up to 60, said Drake Goolsby, Battelle regional vice president.
“As you know PPE has been in short supply and continues to be in short supply,” said Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price.
Production has ramped up and is getting much better, Price said, but nursing home employees, first responders of all kinds, and healthcare center workers are in need of personal protective equipment.
“It allows us to have a stockpile, should we have a surge or should we have a second wave of this virus, then we’ll have extras there,” Price said. “... It’s a great thing to be able to decontaminate them.”
Stockpiling masks is not yet an option, said Serena Bumpus, Texas Nurses Association director of practice. The hospitals have been prioritized during this pandemic and the areas in dire need are the assisted living centers and long-term care facilities, Bumpus said
Those close-quartered facilities such as nursing homes are also areas where health care professionals are finding concentrations of infections.
“We still don’t have enough,” Bumpus said. “But things are being put in place.”
Bumpus said the decontamination processes being deployed will help. The Texas Hospital Association also is participating in an effort to establish an exchange, where organizations with an abundance of resources such as personal protective equipment can share with organizations that do not have enough, Bumpus said.
As Texas gradually begins to open back up, it is not known how an increase of elective surgeries, a possible COVID-19 surge, a possible second wave, or the coming flu season, will affect the supply of N95 masks, Bumpus said.
Bumpus said her advice to the public is to do their best not to get sick. If people will not stay healthy for their own good, do it for the sake of frontline healthcare workers.
“Social distance, wear a face covering, wash your hands” Bumpus said. “That’s the best thing the public can do to help us conserve. Protect themselves.”
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 5:25 PM.
