GEORGETOWN, Texas -- Medical gear is in short supply across the nation but that's not stopping Kris Stevens from busting out her sewing machine to help. The Georgetown designer closed her boutique because of the coronavirus.
- Georgetown-based designer Kris Stevens has started sewing protective face masks
- A portion of them are being donated to health care professionals
“The second it became a legitimate scare here in the United States my front door stopped opening. People stopped shopping, and as a small business that is terrifying," said Stevens.
Stevens fired up her sewing machine to keep her business afloat as well as help those on the front lines of the pandemic. For every five face masks sold, Buffalo Seven donates one to a hospital worker or nursing home in need.
It’s an initiative that customer Elizabeth Mason can get behind.
“I have Crohn's, which is an autoimmune disease, plus I also have asthma, and with all the oak and ash my asthma has mixed up too, so that puts me double at risk for corona,” said Mason.
Designer Kris Stevens sews a protective face mask in this image from April 2020. (Mimi Haruna/Spectrum News)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists homemade masks as a potential option when N95 grade masks aren’t available.
Jackie Messer, who has spent more than 30 years working at hospitals and rehab centers, believes that the masks are a life-and-death situation for health care workers.
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“I have talked directly with physicians and nurses and nurse practitioners who are living this daily and they are desperate. They don’t know what next week numbers are going to be, and all they see right now are the patients that they need to help now,” said Messer.
As for Stevens she said that she wants to help make a difference and plans to keep creating masks.
“If we work at this as a team we will all get through it together,” said Stevens.