City salon donates 150 masks to St. Paul’s
‘We won’t be needing them,’ says owner as business complies with closure order
Kristin Koski was cutting hair for a friend’s son when she learned that Saskatoon hospitals were dramatically short of supplies due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Koski, the manager of Sunsera Salons Stonebridge, didn’t think twice. “I said, ‘We have extra around here,’ and by that time, we already knew we were going to be closing our doors,” she said.
All personal service facilities — including tattooists, body piercers, hairdressers, barbers, acupuncturists, acupressurists, cosmetologists, electrologists, estheticians, relaxation masseuses, manicurists, pedicurists, suntanning parlours and massage therapists — must close except where urgently and medically necessary.
Koski looked and found a few boxes of masks around the store.
“I thought they might as well use them since we won’t be needing them,” she said.
Koski gave the masks to Kia Frey, a friend and nurse at St. Paul’s Hospital who is currently on leave. Before going on leave, she worked on the unit designated for COVID -19 patients.
“I know that supplies are running low because there’s such a high demand,” Frey said.
Saskatoon doctor Jennifer Cameron-turley shared a message to the Saskatoon Starphoenix, pleading for help from the public.
“We are currently running on extremely low supplies on the Covid-19 Unit at St. Paul’s Hospital,” she wrote, urging any businesses that have hand sanitizer, N95 masks or surgical masks level two or higher to “please consider donating them to us.”
She said the donation from the local spa of 150 surgical masks “meant the world to us but that barely lasts us 24 hours if all of our beds are full. We are doing our best at conserving what we have but even with these measures it’s just not enough.”
Cameron-turley said she will arrange pick-up or drop-off of any supplies. Koski encourages others to join her.
“We will be forever grateful to you if you can help us protect ourselves and provide the best care we can to our patients,” wrote Cameron-turley.
Added Koski: “We’re able to keep ourselves safe, whereas (nurses and doctors) in contact with (COVID-19) ... If everybody pitched in, that would be nice.”
Frey said it’s a very stressful time for staff on the COVID ward.
“They all have families and they don’t want to bring it home,” Frey said.
“If you have anything to donate, at this point, I think anything helps, no matter how small.”