Masks for at-risk population: nursing promoting biosafety in pandemic times

To describe a proposal for making and distributing masks for population in risk, with guidance on the stages of making them and the care in handling them based on the development of educational video and infographic.

Method

Experience report on the stages of the process of training people to make fabric masks for the population at risk, between March and June 2020, in a city in the interior of São Paulo.

Results

1,650 masks were made and distributed to vulnerable population groups from different contexts and tutorial video and infographic were elaborated and released to enable people to make their own masks with resources available at home.

Final considerations

It was possible to manufacture and distribute masks for the population at risk and develop educational actions to contain the disease, given the advance of confirmed cases and deaths by Covid-19, corroborating the role of nursing in health education.

Keywords
Masks; Nursing; Health education; Containment of biohazards; Covid-19

Stage	At-risk population	No. of masks
1st stage	Bedridden elderly and people with risk comorbidities, their caregivers and family members	620
2nd stage	Bedridden elderly and people with risk comorbidities, their caregivers and family members	300
3rd stage	Bedridden elderly registered in the home assistance service of the SMS of Ribeirão Preto	140
4th stage	Pregnant and postpartum women at the Women's Health Reference Center ("MATER")	100
5th stage	Cleaning and security workers of the health education unit	60
6th stage	Homeless people through the Limite Institute and the Municipal Social Welfare Secretariat of Ribeirão Preto	150
7th stage	Patients treated in philanthropic institutions that provide health care, such as the municipality's backup hospital.	100
8th stage	Bedridden elderly and people with risk comorbidities, their caregivers and family members	130
9th stage	Homeless people and vulnerable communities assisted by the ”Street Clinic" of the SMS de Ribeirão Preto	50
	Total	1,650

Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Escola de Enfermagem Rua São Manoel, 963 -Campus da Saúde , 90.620-110 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brasil, Fone: (55 51) 3308-5242 / Fax: (55 51) 3308-5436 - Porto Alegre - RS - Brazil
E-mail: revista@enf.ufrgs.br

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[1] Corresponding author:
Susana Inés Segura-Muñoz susis@eerp.usp.br