X

Volunteer helps Ogdensburg United Helpers workers get fit tested for N95 masks

Posted 1/14/21

OGDENSBURG -- United Helpers employees working in the company’s 11 Individual Residential Alternatives (IRAs) or at Gateway Apartments will each be fit-tested for N-95 masks, thanks to the …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Volunteer helps Ogdensburg United Helpers workers get fit tested for N95 masks

Posted

OGDENSBURG -- United Helpers employees working in the company’s 11 Individual Residential Alternatives (IRAs) or at Gateway Apartments will each be fit-tested for N-95 masks, thanks to the generosity of a Canton woman who will be volunteering several hours of her time to do so.

Shortly before Christmas, Suna Stone-McMasters, who works as a chemical hygiene officer for St. Lawrence University, reached out to United Helpers to offer her services to the organization.

While employees of the IRAs and the apartment therapy program at Gateway Apartments have been wearing surgical masks at work since the pandemic began, United Helpers Director of Residential Services Colleen Aldridge said that with a recent uptick in virus cases in the area, ordering N-95 masks for staff made sense.

“When Suna approached us about fit testing for our Behavioral Health and Life Services team, we couldn’t say no,” Aldridge said. “We are so very grateful to her for offering us her time and expertise to help further protect our employees.”

Fit testing began this week at the Spruce Street IRA in Ogdensburg, and will continue into the New Year until approximately 300 employees have been fit tested.

Each testing session takes roughly 10 minutes and includes instruction from Stone-McMasters on how to properly put on, take off, and care for an N-95 mask.

Each session also includes testing to ensure that a standard N-95 mask will properly seal around each employee’s face. Larger or smaller masks will be ordered for employees who need them.

To determine if a standard N-95 mask will work for each person, they put on the mask, and then put on a hood covering their face. Stone-McMasters then leads them through a series of exercises to determine if they can “taste” a substance that has been sprayed into the hood.

If they can taste the substance, it means a seal has not been created. Should the mask prevent them from tasting the substance, it means a proper seal has been created, and a standard N-95 mask will provide them optimum protection.

By the time she is complete, Stone-McMasters will have volunteered more than 40 hours of her time on this project.

Those who would like to lend volunteer assistance to United Helpers can go to https://unitedhelpersneeds.hwapps.org.