High School Senior, Medical Student Among Those Answering Call For Face Masks in Hospital

Like the rest of us, 18-year-old Alyssa Baisch has realized she has a lot of free time on her hands lately.

"Since I have so much time, I'm kind of doing nothing, I just do school 10-2 and then I have nothing else to so, this is what I'll be doing the rest of the day," said Baisch, a high school senior.

She's sewing face masks to donate to health care workers. It's a skill she learned in school her junior year, she just never thought it'd lead to her helping doctors and nurses in a worldwide pandemic.

"Everyone is going crazy about it. I didn't expect people to go insane about it but a lot of people have been reaching out to us asking if we needed anything and so many people have been donating fabric and everything that we needed," said Baisch.

The need for face masks in hospitals seems to be high. Temple Hospital posted on Instagram asking the public to for donations. Across the country, workers have put out a public plea on social media with the hashtag "Get Me PPE," personal protective equipment.

(Nicole jochym - medical student)

"There's a lack of what we call personal protective equipment in the hospital, which is gloves, face masks, face shields," said Nicole Jochym, a 3rd year medical student who started a Facebook group called "Sew Face Masks Philadelphia." She says part of the problem is the masks don't last long.

"Even if you have it on for an hour and you sneeze in it, you have to swap it out," said Jochym.

She says that's why the best face masks for medical workers are N95's, but hospitals are hoping an influx of cloth mask donations will free up some supply.

As for Alyssa - she's sewn 25 masks so far and has no plan of stopping anytime soon.

"No one really knows what to do, so it feels good knowing like it's helping a lot of people that need it, said Baisch.

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