All those extra buttons saved from newly purchased clothes finally came in handy.
Nursing leaders at Tidelands Health exhausted their stash of buttons and purchased hundreds of headbands to create an apparatus for nurses that helps relieve the ear irritation caused by wearing an N95 respirator for long periods.
After hearing feedback from nurses about the ear pain caused by N95 respirators, which are part of the personal protective equipment worn by health care workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 coronavirus battle, nursing leaders searched the internet for options and quickly discovered the solution: a cloth headband with two strategically placed buttons, which the elastic N95 bands could loop around instead of ears.

The first few headbands made were a huge hit with nurses.
So Debra Ward and Celeste Harmon, both executive secretaries in nursing administration at the health system, were on a mission to make headbands for nurses at Tidelands Georgetown Memorial Hospital and Tidelands Waccamaw Community Hospital. Ward scoured local stores for headbands, and they both rounded up those random buttons from their closets and drawers.

“I’ve been sewing like crazy,” Harmon said last week. “I was on conference calls and sewing at the same time.”
In the end, the pair produced 375 of the popular headbands in a few days for nurses.
“Our crew is so appreciative!!! Thanks for the headbands,” Amanda McVicker, clinical director of 2 East at Tidelands Georgetown, wrote in an email thanking Harmon and nursing leaders on behalf of herself and fellow nurses on the unit.
With supplies exhausted and their fingers worn, Harmon and Ward aren’t producing any more headbands. But they are sharing an easy how-to video for anyone who wants to make one.
“If you can sew on a button, you can make one of these,” Ward says.

Learn how you can support Tidelands Health in the battle against the COVID-19 coronavirus by clicking here.