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Pictured, from left: Glen Sadler, RN; Dan Hatten, RN; Mike Williams, ER Admissions; Cliff Hewitt, RN; Sandy Bean, ER Admissions; Holly Partridge, ER Tech.
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At Bates County Memorial Hospital, staff must wear a mask at all times, and some of our employees MAY wear cloth or homemade masks IF they are not involved in patient care or contact. Give some love to our Emergency Department night crew, a few of whom are modeling homemade masks made and donated by our own Mike Williams, admissions clerk in the BCMH emergency room.
All BCMH patient-care employees are using appropriate hospital-issued personal protective equipment (PPE) for all contact with our patients. If we run out of medical grade face masks, our caregivers may use the homemade face masks to extend the N95 mask use. Other hospital staff who do not provide patient care are currently using homemade cloth masks in our facilities.
Like many other healthcare facilities in the nation, we continue to practice judicious use and appropriate re-use of our emergency cache to conserve what we have for potential surge. We are accepting donations from the public of medical grade PPE such as N-95 respirators, nitrile or latex free gloves, hand sanitizer, and oral digital thermometers. We are also accepting homemade cloth masks as it is unclear when we will receive our next supply of face masks from our suppliers.
Last week, the CDC changed their recommendation on wearing masks. Everyone should wear a mask in public to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Please visit the CDC website for complete guidelines: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/diy-cloth-face-coverings.html?deliveryName=USCDC_2067-DM25135