Volunteers sew gowns for Ottawa Inner City Health

A new group of Ottawa volunteers hopes to provide personal protective equipment to people serving the city's homeless population during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ottawa Gowns 4 Homeless is planning to sew2,500 medical isolation gowns for workers at Ottawa Inner City Health (OICH).

"We've delivered, so far, about 1,000 [gowns]," volunteer Michael Ward told CBC Radio's In Town And OutSaturday.

Michael and his wife, Leonor, are leading the effort to protect workers at the social service organization, whichprovides health care services for the city's homeless.

While OICH requiresmost types of protective equipment, it's also in competition for those supplies with hospitals and other organizations, Leonor Ward said.

Their medical director, she said, told them that not only do they need gowns, but they're simple enough for the average person to make as long as they have a needle, thread and a bit of skill.

"So we took the challenge, even though we don't know how to sew," she said.

'The response was amazing'

Michael Ward said the next step was to contact various local groups and networks to amass an army of sewers.

"All we said was, 'If you're interested, send us an email,'" he said. "Well, the response was amazing."

"Sewers know sewers," Leonor added. "So it went from there."

While their groupis providingraw materials to some sewers,many are simply using old bedsheets as they "work just fine," Michael said.

The couple is also in contact withan Ottawa hotel association anda fabric store about securing more materials.

While Ottawa Gowns 4 Homeless still needs to sew another 500 gowns to reach their goal, the Wards areoptimistic.

"Did I think we could get here? I had my doubts," Michael said. "Really, what this has proven is how amazing Ottawa's community is, and the volunteer spirit of the place is awesome."