Clinical Support: An Unconventional Request – Providence’s 100 Million Masks Initiative

Publication Title

MLAConnect

Authors

Carrie Grinstead, Library Services, Providence St. Joseph Health, Burbank, CAFollow
Heather J. Martin, Library Services, Providence St. Joseph HealthFollow
Laurie Schwing (ed.)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-16-2020

Keywords

2019-nCoV

Abstract

In early March, Seattle, WA, was the epicenter of the US COVID-19 pandemic. Providence St. Joseph Health had seen the first reported US case of COVID-19 on January 20 [1] and quickly found itself responding to a growing crisis, with little information about how best to care for patients while protecting frontline staff.

On March 16, 2020, Providence System Library Services received an email from senior leadership with the subject line: “Urgent – An Unconventional Request.” We were asked to pause all other work to search for viable mask patterns that could be easily and quickly made at home by volunteers and to develop mock-ups of the best patterns.

Specialty/Research Institute

Infectious Diseases

Specialty/Research Institute

Library Science