Fastsigns franchisee makes gowns for local hospital

A Fastsigns franchisee in Georgia, US, has been helping out her local hospital by creating disposable gowns.

The signage franchise has been helping produce PPE, such as social distancing materials, plexiglass face shields and dividers, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. But one franchisee in Augusta, Georgia started making disposable gowns when a nearby hospital announced they were running low.

Melanie Hossler was pleased to be able to help the local community by using the resources her business had at hand. She first became aware of the gown shortage when she was contacted by Laurie Ott, Vice President of Community Services and President of University Health Care Foundation.

Melanie explained how she used a sample from the hospital to create additional gowns:

“About an hour and a half after Laurie asked for it, we brought the gown sample to our store, I took it in the back, took it apart, laid it out on some rigid plastic material, drew a pattern from it and cut it out by hand.

“We had about four ladies who were going to volunteer to make gowns out of plastic tablecloth material, so I made four patterns at the time and gave that to them that day. Within a week, she needed about 10 more, so we just kept making them and knocking them out.”

By building a team of workers, Melanie was able to help some nurses who would have been furloughed because of cancellations in elective surgeries. And in just three months, the industrious team had created more than 10,000 gowns. The Fastsigns franchise unit even donated cutting mats to the hospital so the group manufacturing the gowns could boost their production output.

Melanie added:

“It was really a no-brainer. We saw a need as [it] arose and we just stepped in.”