Farmington hospital seeks cloth mask, surgical cap donations

FARMINGTON — San Juan Regional Medical Center is requesting additional cloth mask and surgical cap donations to keep employees, patients, and visitors safe and from spreading the coronavirus.

The hospital is thankful for the donations and it has received more than 4,200 cloth masks and 460 scrub caps, according to hospital Spokeswoman Laura Werbner.

Hospital policy dictates anyone working and entering the facilities wear a mask.

It is important for San Juan Regional Medical Center to have extra cloth masks and surgical caps to help preserve its personal protective equipment supplies for healthcare workers with direct patient conduct, according to Werbner.

"Previous donations have been distributed to employees, patients and visitors. We launder and rotate these items for our employees, and like to have two or three on hand for a rotation," Werbner said.

The hospital strongly encourages the community to follow social distancing recommendations, continue proper hand hygiene and wear face coverings.

Werbner added hospitalizations in San Juan County remain high compared to the rest of New Mexico.

The hospital requests the masks and caps be made of 100 percent cotton or cotton blend.

Those seeking additional information on making cloth masks can visit https://bit.ly/clothmaskinfo. 

Those seeking more information on making surgical caps can visit https://bit.ly/surgicalcaps.

Joshua Kellogg covers breaking news for The Daily Times. He can be reached at 505-564-4627 or via email at jkellogg@daily-times.com.

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