HOUSTON (March 27, 2020) – For this year’s Women’s History Month, the Prairie View A&M University Northwest Houston Center (NWHC) Library had planned to host a free “20-Minute Pencil Skirt” craft project to show students how to sew a wearable garment from scratch. That’s until the coronavirus crisis struck, and all PVAMU campus events were postponed or canceled.
While consuming news coverage about the spread of the virus and reading about the dire need for medical safety equipment, event organizer and NWHC Librarian Elizabeth Brumfield wondered how to put the fabric to good use.
“There are so many requests now for masks from all over the place–every state is pretty much looking for people to do the same—create masks,” said Brumfield, who began sewing as a child. “I saw something on the news, that in Indiana a hospital had put out a request for the community for surgical masks. I went online and looked it up. It doesn’t take long to do a mask. So, I said, ‘Maybe this is something we can do at PVAMU.’”
The website, www.deaconess.com, is part of the Indiana-based Deaconess Health System, which serves 26 counties in three midwestern states. On the site is a locator service to find medical facilities needing masks.
Brumfield reached out to PVAMU College of Nursing Professor Debbie Jones to see what hospital in the Texas Medical Center needed surgical masks. They put Methodist Hospital on their list. Brumfield checked the website for other medical providers in need, and she chose Beaumont-based Spindletop Center and called the contact person listed on the site: Gayle Kemmerer.
“She called me and said that they were making masks and original they were going to go to Methodist Hospital, but they no longer had a need. She wanted to know if we were interested. I told her, “Absolutely!” Kemmerer said, adding the call was unexpected.
Kemmerer is an executive assistant to the CEO of Spindletop Center, which has served Southeast Texans since 2000. According to its website, the center provides community-based “behavioral healthcare services to people with mental illness, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and chemical dependency.”
Kemmerer said, “We do intake. We do crisis. We do early intervention with babies. We do a lot of face-to-face out in the community. With this new way of life right now, we’re trying to keep everyone out of the building and out where they need to be.”
Brumfield teamed up with fellow PVAMU Librarian Phyllis Earles, who is also the university’s archivist and head of the Special Collections/Archives Department. Their goal – to pre-sew masks for students to be completed by hand and create 100 additional masks to donate to the medical facility.
“I’m excited about the lending a helping hand!” said Earles, who also loves sewing.
Elizabeth Jean Brumfield, M.L.I.S., A.B.D., (left) Distance Services Librarian, Northwest Houston Center Library, and Phyllis Earles, M.L.S., (right) Head, Special Collections & Archives/University Archivist.
Internet user donates fabric
Brumfield created the event called “20-Minute Surgical Masks,” which was posted to www.pvamu.edu. The event caught the eye of Barbara Hampton, a Baytown entrepreneur.
“I was doing my once-a-day check of the news and saw the need for fabrics to make masks,” Hampton said.
Hampton wrote down the address to the NWHC and spent the weekend emptying her fabric stash and sorting out all fabric that was 100% cotton, as required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.
“I am an upholsterer, and I sew as a hobby. I have a lot of 100% fabric, and it needs to be put into use. I was even more delighted to hear that it would also be students making masks to fulfill the need,” said Hampton.
She and her husband, Tom Hampton, drove from Baytown to Northwest Houston to find a closed building with a security guard standing at the entrance because PVAMU’s classes had shifted online, beginning March 23. But the Hamptons’ arrived at the right time.
“Elizabeth just happened to be getting ready to leave the building when she saw us in the lobby,” said Mrs. Hampton. “We delivered pounds of fabric and a free used sewing machine.”
Brumfield said when she met the Hamptons and saw the abundance of extra fabric, she knew the surgical masks program would be a success. But with only one sewing machine available for student access, she thought it would be best to have the students make their own masks, while she and Earles focused on the CDC-compliant masks.
“I will do some pre-sewing, so all the students have to do is turn it over and stitch it by hand,” Brumfield said. “I think it will give people something to do, and I think it’s good to be a part of something, and maybe lift spirits, because everyone seems kind of down. I think having something positive usually brings people up.”
The librarians set a goal to sew 100 surgical masks with an internal pocket by the end of March. That opening will help Spindletop Center stretch its critical masks supply.
“We’ve got about 200 masks right now in surplus. We’re only giving our staff one [mask a piece],” Kemmerer said about their limited supplies. “What we want to do with these homemade masks is put the regular ones inside the homemade masks. So that way, they can last longer.”
Click here to watch Brumfield make a face mask by hand and with a sewing machine.
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By Michael Douglas