NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to grow in Tennessee, Vanderbilt University Medical Center says it’s in need of hand-sewn masks.
Vanderbilt Health says they need as many cloth masks as the public is willing to donate. They need masks for both adults and children.
Since March, the community has already donated 30,000 masks to the hospital. Vanderbilt University Medical center says they do have an adequate supply of PPE for employees and patients to protect them.
The cloth masks just work better for other circumstances and can help conserve the use of N95 masks.
Even though COVID-19 is a huge priority for the hospital, like thousands of other hospitals, they have other patients to protect, too.
"Remember, our ICU units do not take care of only COVID-19. We have patients who need ICUs, we have patients who need the hospitals. You have cancer and diabetes and vascular diseases. So that's going to put a lot of pressure on us,” said Dr. Ali Mokdad with the University of Washington, Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME).
Hand-sewn masks can be dropped off in a plastic bin between 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. at Entrance A at Vanderbilt One Hundred Oaks. They ask all the masks be made with new fabric and washed and dry without any fragrance or dyes. Click here for more information.
