Homemade PPE Factory

Staff and Community Volunteers Mobilize to Set Up Homemade PPE Factory

By Holly McCrary, LSSGB

Operational Excellence Manager

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic back in March 2020, as team members and leadership at AdventHealth Hendersonville were entertaining the idea of how to address the PPE shortage with homemade masks, community volunteer Pat Reed (the mother of a team member) was thinking the same. We came together, settled on a pattern, purchased material and – with the help of some redeployed team members – quickly created mask-making kits. Soon, other members of the community started calling offering to make masks as well. AdventHealth coordinated delivery of the mask-making kits to these volunteers and drop-off/pickup locations when they were complete. Once we received the completed masks, our central sterile department sterilized them. Then each mask received a filter and was packaged for delivery. Not long after this volunteer effort started, a shortage of isolation gowns became apparent. With the help of community businesses that donated plastic and heat guns, we started making plastic isolation gowns. As census at AdventHealth dropped and more staff were redeployed, we opened a “Homemade PPE Factory” in the basement of our Professional Services Building. Team members from our clinics and hospital departments contributed their efforts to make plastic isolation gowns. While making the gowns for hours at a time wasn’t always easy, everyone involved said they were proud to participate in a worthwhile cause.

All totaled, the AdventHealth team and volunteers made more than 2,300 cloth masks and more than

2,500 plastic gowns. Our sterile processing department is still requesting these specialized gowns. The homemade masks are distributed to patients and team members in need. It has been rewarding to see the community and our team come together to be part of a project that centers on our “Keep Me Safe” service standard promise.