APPLETON (NBC 26) - Healthcare workers have to wear masks every day for their jobs, and sometimes that can cause skin irritation behind the ears. Now community members are stepping in to help.
"Ear guards, in my nursing career, has popped up here with COVID-19," said Jackie Anhalt, the Chief Nursing Officer at ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Appleton.
If you ever wear sunglasses or glasses, you know the feeling of something resting on your ears. Now imagine it's an elastic band from a mask; wearing that for hours on end has the potential to cause some tension.
"I think we've all seen the pictures on television of some of the redness it causes," Anhalt said. "Really with anything on too long, like I said particularly rubbing around the backs of the ear, you can almost get an abrasion or a little bit of a sore in the worst case scenario on your ears."
That's where several community members have stepped in to help. ThedaCare has received several different types of homemade ear guards. These items hold a mask in place but also provide relief from the tension of a mask on the tops and backs of their ears.
While there are different types of ear guards, including headbands, Kaukauna native and UW-Platteville senior Sam Smith decided he wanted to help.
"Every small little aspect helps," he said.
Smith has been making 25 to 30 ear guards a day for over two weeks on his 3D printer.
"They're just little guards that go around the back of your head," he said. "So it stops the elastic from going on the back of your ear and irritating it all day. I'd say it's like running a marathon with a pebble in your shoe, where every single step is painful and it hurts, where this takes away that little pebble in your shoe and they can focus on their job."
Smith has been donating the ear guards to family, friends and healthcare workers, including those at ThedaCare in Appleton, as he showed off a thank you card from some of the workers.
"These are very popular; they're very practical as well," Ahnalt added about ear guard use in general. "I would not be surprised if ear guards are part of the new uniform for healthcare workers."
If you're interested in making ear guards and donating them, check out the information provided below from ThedaCare on how you can help:
- During this unprecedented time of the COVID-19 response, ThedaCare is inspired by the community support and offers to help our organization.
- They have received many requests from the public to donate handmade fabric masks, ear savers and headbands. They are extremely grateful for these offers.
- They have a created a Facebook Group, ThedaCare Mask Makers, where people can make masks/headbands for our organization.
- If you have ear savers/headbands to donate, please contact the ThedaCare Family of Foundations.
- They have very detailed donation locations that can be found on https://thedacarecovid19.org/ [thedacarecovid19.org]
- Donations will only be accepted at the locations listed: donations will not be taken at any other locations.
