Have Skills, Will Deliver GORGE INGENUITY HELPS FILL THE PPE GAP
Story by RUTH BERKOWITZ Photos by KATHARINE KIMBALL, ZAHNE CALZADA and KYLE PERO
As the pandemic hit Oregon this spring, medical workers pleaded for personal protective equipment (PPE). Nationwide shortages plagued hospitals and clinics everywhere, and while federal officials bickered and blamed, some determined Gorge residents got to work to solve the critical shortage of isolation gowns, face masks and protective shields. The stories of how they did it are inspiring tales of shifting gears and MacGyver-ing solutions.
Donned in a paper-thin gown with an open back, Dr. Laurel Berge treated her first Covid-19 patient on March 19. Berge, a Hood River resident, was working a 14-hour shift at Kaiser Permanente in Portland. Because of the shortage of gowns, she and her fellow frontline workers used sanitary wipes to clean their flimsy protection between tending patients. The emergency room doctor cringed while witnessing one of her peers care for a stabbing victim and then immediately intubate a Covid-19 patient. “We were really rushing into the field of battle without armor,” Berge says. Proper protection meant an isolation gown, the second most used piece of PPE following latex gloves. Designed to be impenetrable, isolation gowns are essential in protecting medical workers from contamination. That night, exhausted and tormented by the acute shortage Maui Meyer, left, teamed up with Dr. Laurel Berge to form HMB50, an organization of local of PPE, Berge tossed and turned in her sleep. At 2:30 a.m., she volunteers that helped make PPE to distribute in the Gorge and around the Northwest. bolted upright with an idea. She went into her bathroom, took down the shower curtain, and cut the plastic into a makeshift protective gown. Anything would be better than the gown she had worn the day before. The next day, Berge phoned her friend Maui Meyer, a resourceful Hood River realtor who knows how to problem-solve and get things done. The two experimented with a variety of materials before landing on Tyvek, a water-resistant, light and breathable construction material used to wrap houses. They connected with John Weld, owner of Immersion Research, a company that manufactures paddling gear in White Salmon. Skilled in making drysuits for paddlers, Weld created their first fully functional gown. Thus began their organization, HMB50 (Help Make Better 50; the 50 refers to the 50 hours it took to transform Berge’s idea into a functional isolation gown). Berge describes the fast pace and the impressive teamwork. “We were building something as if we were flying something,” she said. They quickly delegated the work. Immersion Research cut the durable material. The Gorge clothing company Renewal Workshop, and USiA, a watersports gear supplier, retooled their businesses into gown-making factories. They paired with The Next 30
SUMMER 2020 II THE GORGE MAGAZINE
Zahne Calzada
HMB50 — Isolation Gowns