Tommye Austin is a nurse who has come forward with the best alternative of the N95 respirator mask after she saw coronavirus patients struggling for life on ventilators. Working in the health sector, she is well-aware of how fast this deadly virus could transmit from the patient to other people. The risk is even higher in healthcare workers that are exposed to the confirmed coronavirus patients; thus require best grade medical equipment including the N95 respirator mask.
Although her hospital, San Antonio hospital in Texas has a sufficient supply of the mask as the coronavirus cases speeded a couple of months ago, the shortage of all medical equipment including the masks became quite a problem.
So Tommye decided to make an alternative of the N95 respirator mask at home. Surprisingly, the masks that she made were as effective as the original masks. The name N95 of these masks indicates that these masks are able to filter and prevent the entry of 95% airborne pathogens including the coronavirus. The testing results of Tommye’s alterative of N95 respirator masks showed that they prevent nearly 96.5% of the airborne particles.
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The original N95 masks are not designed to wear all day, they are uncomfortable and impractical to wear for hours, but the masks that Tommye has designed are easy to use and comfortable. Also, unlike the originals, her masks come with a tiny air pocket that allows carbon deoxidate to release hence prevents dizziness while wearing a mask.
She has named these masks “TM 2020” which are the initials for “Tommye Mask”. All they took to manufacture was 10 days and in less than a day, they were all over the media.
However, these online news present more of a nurse turned scientist’s story instead of the efficacy of her N95 alterative respiratory masks. The role played by Tommye in developing these masks is indeed appreciable and tells that there is nothing impossible in this world.
After the success of this alternative of N95 respirator masks, Tommye’s profile has been topped up with credentials “R.N., Ph.D., MBA and NEA-BC (Nurse Executive Advanced-Board Certified).”
She is currently serving as a chief nurse executive and senior vice president. Only one year ago, she was in the list of most influential clinical executives in the US by Modern Healthcare ranking.
A thing that started just as a hobby- sewing- eventually led her to create these super-effective masks which are desperately needed by healthcare workers from all around the world.
The N95 alternative respirator masks that Tommye has created currently has a “non-commercial” status. It means that they are not available in the market anywhere. however, Tommye has revealed that she has some 1500 offers from various companies and independent bodies who want to buy these masks from them in bulk.
She shares that most of these offers are from South Africa and Indonesia, two countries where the coronavirus cases are clearly out of hand.
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On the other side, Tommye considers this invention more of a personal thing. Every weekend she mails these hand made masks to different people, without charging anything. Most of these people include those who have a close relative or family member diagnosed with coronavirus and have a high risk of the disease.
Right now, she has made nearly 2400 masks and her target is to reach 6,600 masks
Taking the other side, only Tommye, and a few of her colleagues are using these masks at the hospital. All other people are using the standard protocol and masks that come in the toolkit. She understands that her creation is just an alternative of the N95 respirator mask and her hospital staff has open access to the commercially made N95 masks, scrubs, face shields, and everything.
She is inclined to help those who don’t have access to these commercial masks and are unable to defend themselves. It might take some time but Tommy is hopeful that she would eventually reach her target within a few months.
