PBRMC asks community to donate cloth masks

Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center is in need of cloth masks and is asking anyone capable of sewing them to do so.

“Mass production right now is what we are looking for,” said Johnna Craft, director of risk management and facilities compliance officer for PBRMC. “We are not going to run out this week, but if we keep up at this rate, we will deplete our stock very quickly.”

She spoke Thursday during a briefing of local officials.

PBRMC started performing some elective procedures on Monday, the same day that businesses were allowed to reopen under Missouri Governor Mike Parson’s guidelines, and with the influx of both patients and visitors the hospital’s usage rate of protective masks has increased as everyone involved, including a visitor, needs personal protective equipment.

Craft said they are going through at least 1,000 surgical masks per day and she is asking for 1,000 cloth masks that she can launder and add to circulation.

“Right now we’re OK, it’s just trying to come up with other options so that we don’t deplete our entire supply,” Craft said.

Masks can be dropped off at the ER entrance, the main entrance, and the Physicians Office Plaza entrances at the Oak Grove Campus.

Butler County is holding at 26 cases and if it makes it to Saturday without another case, it will be two weeks without a positive COVID-19 test.

The Butler County Health Department also received 72 RAPID tests for coronavirus that are free of charge and do not require people to meet any state criteria.

Tests will be issued by appointment only starting next week and results will be given on-site in 30-45 minutes at 1619 N. Main St. in Poplar Bluff. Test takers will not be required to get out of their car to take the test.

The machine being used for the RAPID tests is being shared with Dunklin County, BCHD administrator Emily Goodin said, and it will rotate back and forth between the two.

The RAPID tests were issued by the state, and Goodin said she does not know when Butler County will get more, or how many more they might get if and when they do.

Also at the emergency management briefing with area officials, Chris Rushin, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Poplar Bluff, announced that the club, in conjunction with Poplar Bluff R-1 School District and Chartwells, has given area kids more than 250,000 meals since March 23. The meal program will continue after the calendar school year ends on May 21 and funding for that will be subsidized through a different grant.

The Poplar Bluff Department of Motor Vehicles will begin issuing driver examination skills testing starting Monday. Michele Coon of Troop E of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said they are asking all drivers to sanitize their vehicles before taking the examinations and also to wear protective masks.

__Mask directions__

This is a document provided by the CDC on mask specifications: https://bit.ly/pbrmcmask

Please call 573-776-9356 for more information.