These N.L. crafters adapted their sealskin sewing skills for local PPE push

A group of Trinity Bay women who usually devote their working hours to sewing sealskin products are among the dozens of people in this province who have pivoted to help protect health-care workers from COVID-19.

They're part of a push to make personal protective equipment locally and reduce Newfoundland and Labrador's reliance on outside sources, as worldwide demand for it soars during the pandemic.

The sewers in Heart's Content say switching from sealskin to the materials used to make gowns and face shields took some time.

"We use different needles and threads and fabrics," said Sealskin Treasures owner Laurie Pitcher.

"So everything is a little different, but we're coming into our own with it."

She's modest. Clearly, they've mastered it, with Health Canada recently certifying their creations for use by workers on the pandemic's frontlines.

Pitcher said she and her colleagues didn't hesitate when asked last winter if they could join the effort.

"Well, first thing, we wanted to help," she said.

"At the time COVID-19 was just coming on, and they were talking about the stress that lack of PPE was having on the health-care system and our first thought was, 'Let's do what we can.'"

The provincial PPE push

The campaign to produce local personal protective equipment was spearheaded by TaskforceNL, a group of more than 75 volunteers from the province's business community working together to ensure Newfoundland and Labrador's health care system has an adequate supply of it.

Initially, they gathered up protective equipment for health-care workers from businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador that also use it.

After realizing there wasn't enough equipment in the province to meet the demand, TaskforceNL began to look for external sources. 

"At first, we pulled together people in the oil and gas industry who have global expertise at sourcing and we spent many days and many nights running down leads in other countries," said Cathy Bennett, TaskforceNL's volunteer leader.

"When that was exhausted and we had done everything that we could, we realized that manufacturing was where we needed to focus our attention."

Now more than a dozen local companies from small, single-employee crafters to large industrial construction and manufacturing companies are helping make protective equipment in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Perhaps the biggest is D.F. Barnes, a local company that services the oil and gas industry which is overseeing the production project.

Bennett says Health Canada certification of locally produced equipment was a crucial turning point for the group.

"The certification was extremely important. We met with the health-care unions and we made a commitment that whatever we manufacture in Newfoundland and Labrador met the standards that they expected in the Canadian health-care system," she said.

"So we worked very hard and had to create with Memorial University local testing capacity. We had to learn the testing criteria. We had to make adjustments in the materials we were using. So, it was quite a comprehensive and detailed process."

TaskforceNL is now producing tens of thousands of face shields and gowns for health authorities in the province. It's also looking at producing protective equipment for family doctors and health-care workers who see patients in the community.

Bennett hopes the local businesses making the equipment now will be able to sell those products to international markets in the future.

"We're working really hard as a group of volunteers, contacting the United Nations, looking at Third World countries, places where epidemics are fought almost annually and where this kind of material is used. We hope we can find a niche in that marketplace," she said.

It's a hope the sewers in Heart's Content share.

"Most definitely. Yes, bring it on," said Pitcher.

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