Lowvelder with Italian roots donates masks to Mediclinic

Tracey Bertinotti and her family have a three person mask production line at their home in Mbombela. They have donated 30 masks to Mediclinic Nelspruit and plan to produce more with the sanitised linen Mediclinic gave them.

Tracey has Italian roots and like many others, people close to her family have been tragically affected by the virus.

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“My dad is Italian and my mom is South African (and a retired nurse). We have a family run bed and breakfast called “Mamma Mia”.

“Before lockdown happened here in SA, Italy had already been badly affected. Unfortunately my family and some of our close friends live in one of the worst affected areas in Northern Italy.”

Although her family members are still healthy, five of her father’s very close friends died due to the virus over a period of just five days. “The devastating thing is that our friends’ family members weren’t able to be with them when they passed and they weren’t able to have a funeral to mourn them.”

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She said things are very bad in Italy and one of the biggest problems is that medical staff are also getting sick with the virus due to various things, one of which is a lack of personal protective equipment (PPE).

“I went onto the CDC website and read about how the medical grade masks needed to be reserved for medical staff but that cloth masks could still be helpful for the general public.”

“That’s pretty much how it all started. The three of us have a little production line that we’ve got going on in the afternoons.”

“My dad, Giovanni, cuts out the pattern, my mom, Suzie, pins the elastics and I do the sewing.”

“I’m by no means a seamstress, but I can work the basics of a sewing machine and hopefully get as many masks out there as possible. The plan is for this to be a continuous project. We will try to keep making masks as long as there is a need.”