On Apr 14, 2020, at 8:48 AM, DCHAS Membership Chair <membership**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG> wrote:

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/13/nation/decontaminated-n95-masks-boost-spirits-front-line-hospital-workers/

Decontaminated N95 masks boost spirits of front-line hospital workers

Boston-area hospitals enter new era with respirator masks treated by disinfecting machine

Melissa Mattola-Kiatos has seen a great deal in nearly 11 years as a nurse at Massachusetts General Hospital. But on Monday, she experienced a first: Rather than getting a new respirator mask as she started her shift, she was given one she had worn before - decontaminated in a cutting-edge process meant to help address the dangerous equipment shortages that have plagued hospitals in the battle against the coronavirus.

There was, Mattola-Kiatos acknowledged, "a little bit of uncertainty not knowing how the whole process was going to work. Was it going to smell differently, was it going to feel differently? It's actually better for me than taking a brand new one out of the box because I've already molded it to my face. It's like it was custom-made for me."

As part of a bold initiative involving hospitals across the state, MGH on Monday began distributing thousands of freshly decontaminated N95 masks to health care workers after the equipment went through an elaborate cleaning process at a site now up and running in Somerville. The treatment takes place inside a giant decontamination machine owned and operated by the Ohio nonprofit Battelle. Hospitals plan to use the machine to alleviate critical shortages of respirator masks for workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. At its peak, the system will be able to treat up to 80,000 masks per day - a prospect hailed as a "game-changer" for the region.

(more at URL above)

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