WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Kristen McClure won’t cop to being overly patient, at least not more so than any other mom. It just comes with the territory.
But a good supply of motherly patience comes in handy when trying to convince a 6-year-old boy to wear a face mask, explain why and not scare the bejabbers out of him.
“There are ways to practice,” she said, reeling off the steps.
Carry the mask. Hold the mask. Wear it over one ear. Hold it there. Set a timer. Wear it for a minute. Then two.
“Whether it’s step four or step 14, to get the mask on their face and leave it there, it’s an achievement.”
Indeed.
But there was one other issue, an obstacle no one thought of when coronavirus started its rampage: Where to find a mask to fit a first-grader?
Fortunately, McClure didn’t have to sweat that step. She and every other family served by ABC of NC, a local nonprofit that provides educational and therapeutic services for children with autism spectrum disorder, got that one taken care of for them by a small army of volunteers.
“It’s great that they’re child-sized,” McClure said, “so we didn’t have that to contend with.”
‘WE NEEDED THOSE MASKS’
Finding masks - PPE (personal protective equipment) in the now familiar vernacular of COVID-19 - hasn’t been the easiest task. Supplies, even for medical professionals and providers, were hard to come by.
Factories and textile plants - locals Indera Mills and Renfro, to name two - figured out how to reconfigure production lines and crank up production.
That was jim-dandy when everyone was subject to stay-at-home orders and many businesses were shuttered.
But now that the state is embarking on a phased-in re-opening, other challenges loom - particularly for schools, day-cares and places such as ABC of NC that operate clinics.
“We’ve been able to find adult masks, but child-sized protection is hard to come by,” said Felice Brenner, the chairwoman of the ABC of NC board. “And when you find it, it’s very expensive.”
Wrangling donations and writing grants for nonprofits is difficult under normal circumstances. Finding extra money in stretched and dwindling budgets for PPE was near impossible.
“We were already struggling to operate under COVID-19 guidelines,” Brenner said, “and we needed those masks.”
Necessity, as they say, is the mother of innovation. Or something like that.
The math said that ABC of NC could need as much as $60,000 for PPE - just for staff. And when they started thinking about the clients, the children and families, it was overwhelming.
But as these things go, board member Laurie Albertini knew somebody at the Project Mask of Winston-Salem, a mushrooming local volunteer network churning out PPE by the thousands for health-care providers, and a plan was set in motion.
“I received a text, four questions really, that I responded to,” Brenner said. “A form. How many do you need? 350? … Three days later they’re ready. How do you want to pick them up?
“It didn’t cost us a dime. It was the most selfless thing I’ve ever seen.”
Folks at Project Mask didn’t literally say “Don’t mention it; it was nothing,” but it was close.
“We’d been making adult masks since the beginning,” said volunteer Ritu Hagan. “It wasn’t that hard to do. We already had the supplies and the volunteers, so it was just a matter of making them smaller.”
Just good people doing a good thing.
UNIVERSAL LESSONS
Hagan credits ABC of NC for expanding her group’s outreach. Kid-sized masks were something of an afterthought early on in the pandemic. The focus was on older adults and the immune-compromised.
But with the state moving into a phased re-opening, responsible day-cares, schools and other kid-centric places must now be thinking about acquiring little masks.
“They (ABC of NC) got the ball rolling,” Hagan said. “Now we’re sending some (inquiries) to Indera Mills.”
Getting the masks is one thing; getting a kid to wear it correctly another entirely.
Parents and staff at ABC of NC clearly have been giving that some thought, too, and the tricks they’ve developed could come in handy for others who work with children.
They capture a kid’s attention with short stories, games and cartoons even. “It’s a task,” McClure said. “You have to end with something fun.”
There’s another key, easier said than done with continued resistance by some adults.
“When I ask (Connor) to wear a mask, I’m wearing mine,” McClure said. “Modeling correct behavior.”
The hardest part may be explaining why it’s necessary to a curious child. Incorporating mask etiquette into routine lessons about hygiene - cough into an elbow, wash your hands - seems a good route.
“The ‘why?’ that’s hard,” McClure said. “I tell him people are sick and you can’t tell if they’re sick, so we wear them about people we don’t know.”
Those things are universal. Communicating with a child with autism can present a few other challenges. Some kids, for example, are sensitive to touch particularly around their ears.
McClure solved that one by sewing buttons on her son’s baseball cap so the mask loops around those instead of his ears. Necessity and invention, right?
“Our kiddos learn a little differently,” McClure said. “Six-year-olds are not great at hygiene. A lot of this can help all kids.”
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