SAN DIEGO — Rock Church delivered 263,000 N95 masks to San Diego’s Office of Emergency Services Monday.
Over the past couple of weeks, volunteers have given up their time to repair these masks for healthcare workers in need of them.
These respirators will be placed into the County of San Diego's Medical Operations Center's warehouse for use by Health Care Workers throughout San Diego County.
The Rock Church began retrofitting 300,000 N95 masks on March 30 when the County of San Diego's Medical Operations Center asked for assistance with their supply of N95 respirators that were beyond their manufacturer's date.
Over the past six weeks, 4,284 San Diego volunteers served in three-hour time shifts for a total of 12,852 hours. The project’s estimated savings is $191,238 to the County. The volunteers helped to replace the elastic with new bands to secure the N95 masks. The replacement elastic was provided by County of San Diego's Medical Operations Center.
The Center for Disease Control has approved the use of N95 respirators that are beyond the manufacturer's recommended date when they are not physically damaged during this pandemic. The bands that secure the respirator on the health care worker have failed. However, the respirator is still fully functional and meets CDC requirements for usage.
Miles McPherson shares the motivation behind why the Rock Church mobilizes volunteers for efforts such as this, “Jesus did not simply sit in the synagogue and wait for people to come to Him. He went to them. He also asked a very simple question. He said, "What can I do for you?" This is a simple and powerful thing to do. Just ask how you can help.”
The retrofitting of the 300,000 N95 masks is valued at $1.2 million. Each mask costs $1 to purchase and .07 to fix each mask to remake. There is currently a 300-400% inflation with N95 masks averaging $3-$4/per mask or more.
There are still 44,000 masks that still need the elastic replaced to complete the 300,000 N95 mask project along with several other volunteer opportunities. The volunteer projects are open to community members.
For those interested in volunteering, the details for each project can be found here or by texting COVID to 52525.
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