OKLAHOMA CITY – Amber Hunsucker is about halfway done with her sewing.
She’s been busy since she was furloughed from her job a couple of weeks ago. In between looking for a new gig and practicing social distancing and self-isolation, Hunsucker and about 60 of her friends have been frantically sewing – making masks for medical professionals.
The masks, she said, are her contribution to the fight against the global pandemic that is the coronavirus.
Because COVID-19 has the ability to overwhelm the state’s – and the country’s –emergency medical infrastructure, Hunsucker and her friends decided to make the masks to supplement the rapidly dwindling supply of medical equipment available.
They’re not just making a few hundred.
The goal, she said, was 10,000.
“I think it’s very important to give back however you can,” she said. “Medical responders need them now.”
And the more she makes, the more the need. “When I started making them, Oklahoma had only seven confirmed cases; today it’s 377.”
So far, Hunsucker and her friends have produced about 5,500 masks.
Leveraging the skills she learned from her great aunt Pat, Hunsucker has kept herself busy sewing masks, pushing back against fear and worry over an unseen enemy that is creeping stealthily across the red dirt of her home.
Last week, she and her friends cut more than 700 yards of material that would become masks. Once the material is sized and cut, each mask takes about 20 minutes to make.
Still, she has more work to do.
‘WE ALL NEED TO HELP.’
Across the globe, medical doctors, nurses, nurse practitioners and practically anyone who works in the medical field is struggling. Facilities are overloaded. Drive-through screening and testing has become the norm.
And though Oklahoma hasn't seen its hospitals and medical facilities taxed like those of New York, Michigan or California, experts predict the state hasn’t seen the worst yet.
Enter Oklahoma City attorney John Branum.
After seeing story after story about the pandemic and the scarcity of medical gear – particularly protective gowns and masks – Branum sprang into action.
But Branum doesn't sew – not stitch.
So he partnered with those who do. Instead of putting a needle to thread, Branum provided the organization and the funding to start the mask project.
“I think there are a lot of people who want to help,” he said. “If that happens, then maybe we all have a chance at survival. Everyone is doing what they can to keep people safe.”
Branum’s initial plan was to create an impromptu manufacturing plant. An Oklahoma City church donated a building and Branum set to work to create an organization, locating materials, people who could cut, sew and, eventually deliver the masks.
Then came the lockdown.
“We were gonna have a central location,” he said.“ But the lockdown orders changed that, so we went another direction. Ultimately we opted to create sewing kits.”
One group cuts the material and puts the kits together. Each kit has the material necessary to create about 50 masks. The kits are delivered by runners who leave them on doorsteps.
Once the masks are completed, runners gather the masks and distribute them to medical facilities.
Branum funded the entire operation, purchasing the materials and paying for them to be delivered.
“We’ve been successful,” he said, “with the help of lots of people. Lots of people are sewing.”
Branum even conscripted his mother.
NECESSARY EQUIPMENT
For the untrained, sewing a surgical mask may not seem any different than, say, hemming a pair of blue-jeans or putting a button on a shirt.
But the differences are profound.
An N95-quality protective mask contains several layers and is designed to filter out pollutants that could infect the wearer, said Cindy Suite, a Surgical Technology professor at the MetroTech Center.
“N95 masks are a special fit,” Srite said. “They are designed to filter particles in the air. They are made so you can't taste or smell the particle. That way you know you are protected.”
And most masks, she said,are one-use only.
Hunsucker and her team understand this. Their goal, she said, was to create masks that are as close to the N95level as possible.
“We are using a layer of cotton flannel on top of another layer of cotton,” Hun-sucker said. “And for those in ICU units, the masks have a slot for an air filter. The goal is to get as close to N95 level as possible.”
Masks of that quality, Srite said, would help extend the lives of other masks and make the personal protective equipment last longer.
And Hunsucker’s effort to help, she said, is overwhelming.
“It’s amazing,” she said.“But that’s what Oklahomans do. Even though you hear about and read and see all the bad things, we almost always come together, whatever the situation is.”
FILLING A NEED
On Saturday, Oklahoma’s Department of Health reported that the number of people infected with the COVID-19 virus rose to 377. So far, 15 people have died.
Those numbers aren’t lost on Branum or Hunsucker.
Hunsucker said she has sent masks to Norman Regional Hospital, Integris, Oklahoma City’s VA facility, St. Anthony’s and many others.
And the requests continue.
“We’ve sent masks to Cushing and Lindsay,” she said.“Right now, the health care community needs us. We've had nurses asking to buy them. We don’t want their money. We give them (the masks) away.”
And though Hunsucker acknowledges the importance of her effort, Oklahoma’sdoctors and nurses, she said, are the heroes in the battle against COVID-19. “They are the ones on the front lines.”
For Branum, the project is, simply, his way of helping. Be it masks or other materials, Branum – for the time being– has pivoted from legal work to logistics. In fact, he’s also working on a way to manufacture respirators.
“I’ve been talking with an engineer with the FAA,” he said. “I think there are a lot of people out there trying to provide equipment. I know there are others who want to help.”
Even if it means sewing one mask at a time.
For more information about Branum’s and Hunsucker’s project, visit the Facebook group Masks for Oklahomans.