Personal protective equipment remains in short supply across the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, an army of local residents has stepped up to sew literally thousands of masks for hospitals, nursing homes, senior citizen centers, jails, first responders and other people in need around the Big Horn Basin.

Marla Isbell is helping coordinate the gathering of supplies for and the distribution of homemade PPE in Park County.

By joining forces, Isbell indicated that masks and other homemade materials can be directed to the places that need them the most and resources pooled.

“Elastic is in really short supply; some women have already exhausted their fabric stashes,” Isbell said. “So by doing it together we’re able to trade, share resources, different ideas ... but also we all know of the needs.”

She gets emotional when talking about the massive effort now underway.

“People are taking care of people,” Isbell said.

The Cody resident only recently took on the task of coordinating the homemade PPE effort, doing so at the request of Park County Public Health, but women around the Basin have been hard at work for roughly a month now.

“The more I reach out and hear their stories, it’s wonderful,” Isbell said last week.

A Cody-based sewing group called the Rosies of the Sewing World boasts roughly 80 members who have pooled their labor and materials to craft masks.

“The teamwork and camaraderie is motivating,” Isbell said, adding that there are “so many others sewing independently.”

For instance, besides working as a physician at Powell Valley Healthcare, Dr. Valerie Lengfelder has been using her skills as a seamstress to help produce supplies. Some of her masks are being made from the fabric used to wrap sterile surgical instruments — a procedure devised at University of Florida Health.

Meanwhile, Melissa Cook of Burlington has been helping coordinate a group of eight sewers in Powell, more than 16 in Lovell and several others in both Burlington and Basin.

“The numbers grow by the day,” Cook said.

She had assembled a stash of fabric for her retirement and has drawn down her reserves to help during the pandemic. She’s given out more than 700 mask kits — which include precut fabric and elastic or tie materials.

Cook added that none of the quilters and sewing ladies wants “to take credit for something that they were just a piece of.”

“I’m only one of an army of people,” she said.

Together, they’re making a big impact.

Cody Regional Health has received 1,400 homemade masks, Powell Valley Healthcare is receiving 550 and facilities in Big Horn County have already received well over 1,000 masks, Cook said. That’s in addition to donated gowns, caps and 3D-printed masks.

Fabric masks are not as effective as N-95 respirators or surgical masks, but “they’re better than nothing,” Isbell said of what she’s been told by Park County Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin.

Cook said larger quantities of factory-made PPE are not expected to arrive in the area in “for several months,” as supplies are being routed to COVID-19 hot spots.

Local medical facilities’ initial requests for homemade PPE will be filled this week. However, Cook said the sewing effort will continue for some time. With the cloth masks needing to be washed daily, “they will not hold up throughout the summer,” she said. “Therefore, we will continue to sew, knowing there is a high probability these same entities will need more masks in a month or two.”

The medical facilities plan to use the masks for staff, patients and community members, with extras now being stockpiled at area fire halls.

Isbell has also been making masks available to the general public at various locations — such as the Wapiti post office and Cody grocery stores. Medical facilities are the priority, but “we’re sewing for our families and neighbors and friends of friends that are in vulnerable places as well,” Isbell said, such as elderly people who must go out and shop.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public places where it’s difficult to stay away from other people, such as grocery stores and pharmacies. However, “wearing a face covering is absolutely not a substitute for social distancing, which remains important to slowing the spread of this virus,” State Health Officer Dr. Alexia Harrist warned this month.

Homemade masks are not effective in blocking viruses from reaching the wearer’s mouth and nose, but they can help limit the amount of germs that the person spreads to others. That’s particularly important given that people can be infected with and spread COVID-19 before showing any symptoms.

“Wearing a mask not only helps to protect yourself, it is a gift to those around you,” Cook said.

The CDC has more information about cloth face coverings — including how to make your own — at www.bit.ly/2JJx2ll.

Isbell said that “once we were asked to stay in, to do our part, a sense of helplessness kind of crops up.” However, making PPE “is a wonderful way that we can support [front-line workers] and keep them safe.”

Isbell noted that area residents are helping in numerous other ways, too.

“It’s not just the cloth sewing stuff: It’s meals, it’s looking out after each other,” she said. “I love that about our communities.”

Want to help?

Anyone with sewing skills is encouraged to help make homemade personal protective equipment, but there are other ways to aid the effort.

Local coordinators are seeking donations of fabric, materials like elastic and money to help create more masks, gowns or caps.

Cash donations are being accepted by Marla Isbell, Park County’s point person for the homemade PPE, to pay for materials like interfacing, flannel and thread. Isbell is coordinating the efforts in the county and can be contacted at 307-272-6444 or marlaisbell@yahoo.com.

Completed masks and fabric donations can be dropped off at Cut & Sew in Powell, NAPA Auto Parts in Cody, Lovell Drug, Valley Hardware in Basin or Melissa Cook’s home in Burlington.

Any materials left over when the crisis has passed will be given to local quilt guilds for charity quilts, Cook said, while any leftover money will be donated to the food pantry in Cody.