During the coronavirus (COVID-19) health emergency, personal protective equipment (PPE) is in critical supply. Face masks, a needed type of PPE, help protect our team from droplets that may be expelled by a cough or sneeze as they interact with people seeking care.
You can help, with or without sewing skills
Whether you’re a sewing pro or an enthusiastic non-sewing pro, we have options for you to help us create stand-in face masks for LVHN.
If you can sew, make face masks
You – and your sewing skills – can help make a big difference if you can sew face masks that our team can wear, wash and reuse. This helps us preserve our supply of professionally manufactured PPE.
Use tightly-woven, breathable cotton fabric (preferred) or another tightly-woven, breathable fabric blend, in any color or pattern for the face mask(s) you make. You also will need elastic banding that’s used for sewing.
Sewing Instructions and Videos
You can use any instructions you find online to make a facemask, but here are some we recommend:
Important
: To ensure the health and safety of our employees, only healthy individuals with no one in their household experiencing symptoms should consider donating fabric and masks. Masks donated to LVHN will be laundered prior to use by LVHN colleagues.
Where to bring completed face masks
Bring completed face masks (in a clearly marked zip-loc type bag) to
Trinity Episcopal Church
234 Spring Garden Street (office entrance on Sitgreaves Alley), Easton
during office hours, Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. - p.m.
Lehigh Valley Health Network
2024 Lehigh St., Allentown, Pa., Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Donate materials that can be used to make face masks
If you can’t sew, or don’t have a sewing machine, you can still help us by donating any of the following materials that can be used to make face masks. We will get them to people who can sew to make more face masks. We need:
Fabric bolts – Tightly-woven, breathable cotton fabric (preferred), or fabric blend, also tightly-woven and breathable, in any color or pattern, can be donated to help us create face masks.
- Cut pieces of fabric – Tightly-woven, breathable cotton fabric (preferred), or fabric blend, also tightly-woven and breathable, cut to 6-inches by 10-inches.
- Swatches of fabric – If you have swatches of tightly-woven, breathable cotton fabric (preferred), or fabric blend, also tightly-woven and breathable fabric, we can use that as well.
- Elastic used for sewing
Where to bring items that can be used to make masks
Should you be able to donate any of the above materials, please clearly label the items and bring your fabric or elastic either to
Trinity Church, 234 Spring Garden Street, Easton, PA
Tuesday - Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
or
Lehigh Valley Health Network 2024 Lehigh St., Allentown, Pa.,
Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Donate new, unused PPE
We also will gladly accept
new, unused
PPE, such as:
- N95 respirators
- Dust masks
- Eye protection
- Goggles
- Face shields
- Boxes of nitrile gloves
- Hand sanitizer
Where to bring PPE donations:
To donate PPE, clearly mark contents and bring the items to 2024 Lehigh St., Allentown, Pa., Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Your generosity is appreciated by every person who works at LVHN. If you have questions, email us at
covid19donations@lvhn.org
