ALBERTA— The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged Albertans as their day-to-day life has been transformed, but it has brought together people for the greater good.
A Facebook group created by Laura Barber quickly flourished into a wave of Albertans lending their hand for health care workers across the province.
Barber explains there was a need for bag makers and health care workers to communicate and so this ignited her to begin the group.
"Fortunately, I'm pretty computer savy for a 60-year-old," she joked. "But it was a challenge."
Scrub Bags for Alberta Healthcare Workers was created with one underlying goal - to provide a bag as a gift to every frontline worker that would like one.
"The scrub bags thing is huge. I always used to wear my scrubs home and then change as soon as I got home, but now I change before I leave the hospital and things go directly into the wash when I get home," said diagnostic nurse at Grey Nuns Community Hospital in Edmonton Alexis Sickler. "The community outpouring for it has been amazing and it's a little bit more peace of mind for us. It also is a little bit more environmentally friendly."
The nifty bags allow health care workers to take home their work ensemble after each shift eliminating the fear of contaminating their home or families during the COVID-19 pandemic.
After noticing on Facebook that scrub bags were needed within Calgary and Area, volunteer, Ev Wilson, was quick to jump behind her sewing machine and get to work, setting a goal for herself to make 100 scrub bags.
When first starting out, the hobby quilter out of Calgary would make one scrub bag in about an hour, effortlessly refining her skills with each bag. Wilson said she can now make one bag in about 45 minutes and about eight to 10 a day. She says it took 12 days for her to reach her goal.
"Oh man it was a relief," Wilson laughed. "When I first started I thought 'Well OK I'm gonna set myself a goal of 100' and so when I got to the 100th I'm going 'OK I got to take a break and go back to my quilt.'"
Due to Alberta Health Services restricting non-essential traffic at hospitals, the bags simply can not be dropped off by anyone. The Facebook group allows for bag makers to connect with health care workers who will then help distribute and find those who may like one. It is a foolproof system that seems to be working seamlessly and in the spur of it, other sister groups have been created.
Sickler said her hospital has not been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and that things are going OK so far. She explained the emergency public health measures set in place have been far more bearing than anything.
"We're so used to wearing PPE that as a nurse, that part of it is routine, however, the length that we have to wear them - we have to wear a mask all day at work, those kinds of things are new to us. It's definitely an adjustment," Stickler said.
"We have had some patients that are waiting for results on their COVID swabs, we have had a couple positive patients roll through the department, but they don't generally stay with us for very long."
The bags are being constructed preferably out of 100 per cent cotton with a template being shared between the sewing and quilting communities, predominately one from Willow Creek Quilts. Wilson says cotton stands up best when continuous washing occurs because the weave is tight and they don't break down.
A metre of fabric runs anywhere from $20 to $22 and will allow Wilson to make two bags. She says herself and other seamstresses would welcome fabric donations from those looking to support health care workers.
"It would be great for people to donate fabric if they could," she said.
Monday evening (April 20) Lil Wallace, one of the earliest members of the group, sent out some pretty incredible numbers via the Facebook group which boasts 1,7000 members, sharing the news that 1,519 scrub bags have gone through her door and been given out, and that's just in the Edmonton Zone.
"These seamstresses and amateur sewers have posted on our Facebook page that they're stuck at home and they want to help any way they can and I know everybody is very grateful for anything that they've contributed," Sickler said.
