NEWS PHOTO SEAN ROONEY - Tara Ensz (left) and Bonnie Erb sit in the Mr. Lube parking lot Tuesday, collecting donations for the PPE Medicine Hat Facebook group.
With a COVID-19 outbreak in Brooks and the threat of more cases on the horizon for Medicine Hat, a local volunteer group is trying to ensure personal protective equipment gets in the hands of those who need it.
The PPE Medicine Hat Facebook group was created four weeks ago to get more gloves, facemasks and other equipment to places like the food bank, women’s shelter and community housing.
So far, the response has been exactly what Kristine Russell expected from her fellow Hatters.
“I think within the first day I had 35 people sign up to volunteer,” said Russell, who sits on women’s shelter and health foundation boards and created the new group. “They didn’t know what they were volunteering for but they wanted to help.”
Some volunteers are sewing masks, while others help organize and collect donations. There’s a shipping container at the Mr. Lube parking lot that is staffed Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday from 1-3 p.m. and helpers say the community is rising to the need – though there’s still lots more that can be done.
“It’s been steady, I think people are responding to the needs,” said Tara Ensz, pausing as a passing truck honked its horn in appreciation. “I think for our community it shows when things get tough, people really come together. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
While the government responds to reported shortages of supply and, earlier this week, concerns that some new supply chains are delivering inferior products to frontline health care workers, the Medicine Hat group is focused on other groups.
“Our role here is to ensure that our service providers work with our vulnerable, whether that’s in shelters or out in the community … that they have the necessary PPE,” said Jaime Rogers, manager of the homeless and housing development department with Medicine Hat Community Housing Society. “AHS has come through for some of the shelters in minimal quantities, but not by any stretch of the imagination do any of our organizations have enough PPE.”
During her press conference Thursday, Alberta chief officer of health Dr. Deena Hinshaw said “community specialists are able to order PPE for their clinics through their AHS zone’s point of contact.” But Russell knows there’s a backlog of orders anyways; she’s looking to see what people in the community already have available that they can share, or do to help make masks.
Fabric masks aren’t perfect, but they’re better than nothing at preventing someone with COVID-19 from spreading it to others, according to multiple health organizations.
“These poor ladies that are sewing, I feel bad,” said Russell. “I just gave them more work than what they probably thought. Over 2,000 masks, they’ve sewn.”
And the need isn’t about to wane, either. The government continues to note we haven’t yet seen the first peak of COVID in Alberta, and there will be more peaks in the next year or more before a vaccine is available to start muting the virus’s effects.
“I think people think the need isn’t there anymore, but I think right now the need is more than anything because we are trying to cover this whole front line before it hits us, and they don’t have their PPE from the government yet,” said Russell.
“I think at the provincial level it’s an unprecedented time, there’s a need for PPE across many government agencies and not-for-profits that support a lot of these individuals,” added Rogers. “We’re very grateful for the community support.”
Anyone wanting to help can join the group or email ppemedicinehat@gmail.com.
