Franklin Square residents make masks for nurses, residents

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When Franklin Square residents Catherine Devlin and Crystal Jovicic found out that nurses were running low on protective personal equipment last month, they decided they would help out and make masks for the frontline workers.

“I feel since I have a skill, and have been sewing for years, this is my way to help,” Devlin explained.

She said that she decided to make 60 masks for the staff at NYU Winthrop Hospital in Mineola, after one of her friends, who works as a nurse there, told her that they did not have enough protective personal equipment. Then, when she saw a post on one of the Franklin Square community Facebook pages asking residents what they were doing to help people during the coronavirus pandemic, she mentioned what she had done for the staff at Winthrop, and said, “it snowballed” from there.

Devlin has since donated masks to the medical staff at St. Francis Hospital in Roslyn and ProHealth Care Associates - Pediatrics in Lake Success, and has made some for community members. She tries to make 40 masks a day, out of cotton, fabric and elastic.

“My entire family helps to keep this going,” she noted, “whether it’s checking messages, washing fabric or cutting.”

Jovicic, meanwhile, started making masks after she asked one of her co-workers at a steakhouse, who doubles as a nurse, whether she would like a donation of masks. Eventually, Jovicic said, “it evolved into me offering free masks for the community.”

The masks take her about 15 minutes to make, and once they are complete, she said, she contacts the person who ordered them, places them in resealable, zipper storage bags, and puts those bags outside of her house, under a clear, plastic container. People then come and pick up their masks when they are ready, “and that way there is no contact,” she said.

Jovicic tries to make as many masks as possible, she said, “between taking care of two kids (one who is school-aged), three dogs and a husband, who is working from home.”

Both she and Devlin have been asking for donations of materials on Facebook, and Devlin said those donations have allowed her to continue making masks for those in need.

“I pray there is an end to this soon,” Devlin said, “but I won’t stop doing this until I run out of materials and can’t get them anymore.”