Many people who work in the trades on the East End -- painters, carpenters, and other hardworking folks who frequently cope with fumes and dust on job sites -- might have a box or two of spare N95 masks in their storerooms or the back of their work vans.
The Star would like to issue a call directly to tradespeople, asking them to please look into the back of those trucks, the bottom of the closets, or their tool boxes to see if they have any unused N95 masks still in their box or plastic packaging.
These masks are urgently needed by East End doctors, pediatricians, and emergency-medical volunteers. Reports from doctors offices describe staff working without masks, as worried parents bring in children with coughs and flu symptoms. The various volunteer E.M.T. services are also dangerously low on supplies, as the number of Covid-19 calls is on the brink of exploding.
If you have any masks that you can spare, please immediately phone your own doctor or pediatrician, and ask if they are in need. It only takes a phone call. Or, bring the N95 masks to the doorstep of your ambulance headquarters, and leave them by the door inside a plastic bag. Leave a note with it, so medical personnel will know who to thank, once this crisis blows over. Donations may also be left at The Star office, 153 Main Street in East Hampton, and we'll see that they get to the people who need them most.