South Park art teacher creating homemade masks for local nurses

SOUTH PARK, Pa. — A local art teacher is putting her talents to good use, hand-sewing face masks for health care workers who aren’t able to get them right now.

Rachelle Bersamina is an art teacher at South Park Elementary School who is currently not working, like other teachers across the country.

So, she’s been spending her time off sewing homemade masks, all day long.

“My best friend is a nurse in Johnstown, Pennsylvania and she works at a nursing home and they currently have no N-95 masks at all,” Bersamina said.

Her sister and other friends are also nurses and shared their concerns about the limited supply of masks.

“The reality is some of these health care workers don’t even have one mask, they have limited supply or one mask they are using over and over again,” she said.

She created the Facebook group Masks for Healthcare Providers, calling on any local sewers to help, and giving instructions on how to pin, iron and sew.

“They are able to be washed in their laundry with scrubs, meant to be worn right over top of their N-95 masks and they tie in the back,” Bersamina explained.

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The country is in “crisis capacity times” when it comes to mask availability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with elective procedures cancelled to save masks.

The CDC recommends health care providers re-use face masks for multiple patients, use a face shield that covers the entire front and sides of face and use homemade masks -- adding they should be used as a:

• last resort
• not considered personal protective equipment since their capability to protect is unknown
• use in combination with a face shield

Bersamina told Channel 11 sewing the masks is time-consuming, with four layers of cotton and pleats in the front. Right now, she’s using her own supplies, but will run out soon and hoping for 100% cotton fabric donations.

“Really makes me feel good because at the moment I felt helpless being stuck inside and not able to go out and provide any kind of help that I can for anybody,” she said.

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