When medical professionals fighting the COVID-19 pandemic began experiencing mass shortages in face masks across the U.S., the administrators at the Denver Mattress Co. decided to take action. The company realized the same material used in face masks were already being used in the mattress industry, which meant they had all the supplies they needed to help out.
Colorado and other U.S. states are dealing with severe shortages in personal protection equipment during this pandemic. Therefore, the Denver mattress giant has temporarily transformed its production from personal comfort to personal safety.
The company’s general manager for manufacturing, Bob Rensink, said:
In showing the medical community our prototypes, they’re very excited to get these to put on patients coming in until they can get diagnosed.
On March 25th, Denver Mattress produced 1,200 face masks at its factory in Denver, with plans to increase that number to 3,000 to 5,000 per day. Also, the company has offered to make ICU beds for patients as the outbreak hits harder.
However, the masks are non-rated, which means they don’t equal the safety level as the standard N95 masks that block 95% of all pathogens from getting through. The outer material of the mask is non-woven polypropylene, nearly the same material used as an N95 mask, though their inner barrier is made up of a different material. “It’s offering some protection, but it’s obviously a non-rated face mask,” Rensink added.
Regardless, Rensink said that major hospital groups and organizations have indicated they would welcome the masks. The mattress company plans to supply the needs of the local Veterans Administration medical center first, before offering their products to other facilities.
A spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association, Cara Welch, expressed that the organization is grateful for companies who want to help. She pointed out that, to her understanding, hospitals were currently not accepting masks that aren’t N95-rated, and some may also not be accepting homemade masks.
Welch wrote in an email:
As more hospitals consider moving to a universal masking protocol (meaning all staff in the hospital wear a mask all day – even if they are not in a COVID-19 patient care area specifically) and if traditional PPE supply becomes even more limited, these types of masks may become more necessary.
According to Rensink, Denver Mattress Co. currently has twenty employees working on masks 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. Furthermore, the company is still making mattresses for orders and delivery.
