Lori Walsh: In times of crisis, South Dakotans are naturally inclined to spring into action and be of service. Dzenan Berberovic is chief philanthropy officer at Avera Health and Stacey Erickson is vice president of Quality and Data Integration, and they're joining us today to talk about how Avera is encouraging community members to help through sewing masks for healthcare workers. Dzenan, welcome. Thanks for being here.
Dzenan Berberovic: Thank you for having us. Good to hear you.
Lori Walsh: Stacey, thanks for being here as well.
Stacey Erickson: You bet.
Lori Walsh: All right, let's start with you, Dzenan. Am I saying your name close?
Dzenan Berberovic: Absolutely.
Stacey Erickson: Awesome. Tell us a little bit about this project for sewing masks for healthcare workers. I think we all know the problem. And how can people be part of the solution?
Dzenan Berberovic: Absolutely. So Avera, thanks to many, many generous individuals who were calling last week and this week, decided to go ahead and begin accepting masks that individuals were sewing on their own time at home. I know that Stacey has been more involved with that and her team. So Stacey, if I missed anything, please feel free to add to that.
Lori Walsh: Yeah, jump in, Stacey, please.
Stacey Erickson: Yeah, I think you covered that well. We had an outpouring of community members contacting teams all over Avera asking how they could help. And social media, of course, from what's going on in the East and the West Coast, had a lot of coverage on face masks. And so that rose to the top as an opportunity for people to contribute to the efforts.
Lori Walsh: All right. Stacey, tell us a little bit about the process. And start with this idea of some hospitals have been hesitant to accept anything because how do you ensure that you're not bringing in something that's has a contagion on it? Tell us that.
Stacey Erickson: Right. So you've got a great point. We do have to be very careful about how the masks are delivered to the facilities. We are on a no visitor policy right now, so we don't want people coming in and out of the doors to drop off masks. So we've been working with our foundation to set up drop spots that the masks can be dropped off outside. And then they will all be laundered through the hospital laundry process to do any sanitation that needs to happen with what we receive so that it's useful and people can use them safely. I do want to reiterate or let folks know that the cloth masks don't replace the current surgical masks that we wear to keep our employees safe. But because we know around the country there is a shortage of those surgical type masks, the cloth masks can actually cover over the surgical mask, extending the life of that very valuable piece of equipment that helps keep our employees safe.
Lori Walsh: All right, Dzenan, that's a very important point for people to notice. This is not replacing a surgical mask, it is extending its life. So tell us a little bit about how people can find how to do this, what kind of material they're supposed to use and how to design and create something that's useful.
Dzenan Berberovic: Absolutely. So Avera created a great resource page for that. If the listeners want to head on over to avera.org/covid-19, on that website you can select resources. And there we have a wonderful document that lists what types of patterns we are looking for, the types of specifications, and then, of course, also who to contact if individuals are in a position to drop off masks. As you know, Avera's health ministry spans throughout South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, and so we have drop-off locations throughout our entire footprint.
Lori Walsh: All right, so basically you're going to use new T-shirt fabric and/or possibly quilting cotton. You're going to wash it. You're going to follow one of the supplies and patterns, add the elastic to it, and when you make 25 of those, you're going to find the place in your community where there will be a drop-off site. Avera is going to do the laundering and the sanitation for you. And these are going to help extend the mask of surgical workers.
Dzenan, just tell me a little bit about the flood of people in South Dakota who want to help, and want to do something, and are chomping at the bit to be of use. What does that tell you about the people that you serve?
Dzenan Berberovic: Absolutely, Lori. I often share with groups and with our team here at Avera that philanthropy is the opportunity for people to give whatever they have of in abundance. For some people it's time. For others, it's resources. In a case like this, it's individuals who have some time and who are willing to sew some masks for us. But I want you to know that during this whole pandemic we have seen an incredible and an inspiring outpouring of support. There are dental offices, tattoo parlors, salons in our communities that are giving masks. There are hotel companies that are reaching out to Avera wanting to provide housing for our caregivers and our care providers who maybe need to isolate themselves from their loved ones. And each year Avera is fortunate where we have about 19,000 benefactors who support our health ministry. But at a time like this, their generosity and their support is even more important.
Lori Walsh: Stacey, any other thoughts you want to have here, before we let you go, about how exactly this is going to work or what people need to know? We'll put the link to the website up on our website at listen.sdpb.org but I also found it by just typing in, "Avera how do I sew masks" and it popped right up with those instructions ad well. Stacey, other thoughts?
Stacey Erickson: I just want to extend my sincere appreciation to those seamstresses who are sharing their talents to help our employees. Our employees are working hard every day right on the front lines of the pandemic, so this makes them feel recognized across their communities.
Lori Walsh: Yeah. Are there other way, because, let's talk about that just for a minute because it can be hard once you're in that bubble, doing that work and really being as worried as the rest of us are about what's possibly to come. This whole idea of staying home and taking these precautions and washing your hands, and then taking action to sewing masks. So much of this is for our loved ones and the vulnerable among us, but it is also being done for, these sacrifices are being made for these front line doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, healthcare workers of all kinds. It's so important. Do they feel that support and love, Stacey, do you think? Or is there more we can do?
Stacey Erickson: I do think that employees feel that recognition. They know their communities are thinking about them. Offering a word of prayer for those employees every day would be a welcomed spirit.
Lori Walsh: All right, Stacey and Dzenan, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate your time.
Dzenan Berberovic: Thank you for having us. Have a wonderful day and stay well.