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In April, business owner Rose Morris began taking the medical-grade fabric her company, Abram’s Nation, typically uses to create safety beds and began using it to create machine-washable fabric masks.
The company ended up donating more than 1,000 of the masks to local nonprofits, groups and businesses.
But Morris’s connection to those with disabilities — Abram’s Nation safety beds are marketed to children and adults with special needs — gave her an idea to improve the masks: a clear section in the front that makes a wearer’s mouth visible.
“It’s not just for those who are deaf,” Morris said. “It’s for children who are just becoming verbal. It’s for kids to be able to see their daycare provider or school teacher.”
Using a clear, double-polished, BPA-free vinyl material called Verilon, Morris said she has orders to create up to 30,000 of the masks over the next eight to 10 weeks.
“We would love to get into some school districts,” Morris said. “We’re working with the DePaul School for Hearing and Speech, sending them some to try, and they’re going to give us some feedback.”
Michelle Andros, DePaul’s director of external education, said she is testing the effectiveness of the clear masks as well as homemade cotton masks and plastic medical face shields, working with students suffering profound hearing loss.
Her goal is to make a mask-purchasing recommendation to school districts that will receive DePaul students once they are ready for a traditional classroom.
“It was really important for me to get some tested results before I can make a recommendation,” Andros said. “Initially, I found that the Abram’s Nation mask provided lip reading access, but it’s a little more open on the sides and doesn’t have quite as much protection.”
In contrast, homemade cotton masks offer protection but no chance for lip reading.
“One thing I was surprised to discover was that, based on sound, the best results were from the cotton mask,” Andros said. “So students aren’t just reading lips, they’re using things like cochlear implants to hear. And, while sound was distorted with both the clear and cotton masks, it was less so with the cotton masks.”
Masks have also been sent to sensory therapy businesses to try.
“Anyone who needs them, I’m willing to work with,” Morris said. “It’s a blessing right now just to have work. But to be able to do work that’s meaningful and has a positive impact is great.”
Andros said Morris is creating some new prototypes to test.
“At the end of the day, we want the kids to have access but also be protected,” she said.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .
Categories: Coronavirus | Hampton Journal | Local | Allegheny
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