Fairfield Woman's Coronavirus Goal: Get PPE To Those Who Need It

FAIRFIELD, CT — If Sharon Pistilli doesn't know how to make a particular type of protective equipment used against the new coronavirus, chances are she's acquainted with someone who can.

As the virus outbreak has spread across Connecticut in recent weeks, the Fairfield resident and Representative Town Meeting member has been sewing isolation gowns and caps, coordinating donations, and connecting organizations that can manufacture or import equipment with health care facilities in need.

“Community service is just what you do,” Pistilli said.

Her efforts started in mid-March, after a friend who works in the medical field saw social media posts from doctors in Italy who had experienced the virus and were warning U.S. health providers about what kind of equipment could become scarce. Pistilli used her connections to reach out to business owners who could import equipment. She then gave the information to area hospitals and state officials.

“We knew what was coming,” she said.

As of Saturday, 1,862 Connecticut residents had died after contracting the virus, 1,810 patients were hospitalized with the disease and there were 24,582 confirmed cases in Connecticut, according to state data. Of those, 10,373 confirmed cases were in Fairfield County.

In addition to asking businesses about importing supplies, Pistilli contacted Modern Plastics in Shelton and asked if the company had considered making face shields, which it had. She put the business in touch with hospitals across Fairfield and New Haven counties, including several at which she knew employees.

Modern Plastics in turn connected Pistilli with the CT 3D Print Army, a statewide organization that has been printing and assembling face shields to donate to first responders. Pistilli has been working with the group’s leader, Ben Danker, to place the donations in Fairfield County. In some cases, she asks health workers she knows to leave their trunks open and fills their vehicles with face shields and other equipment.

“We have a very versatile and industrious group of people that live here,” Pistilli said of Connecticut.

She has also recruited volunteers to sew face masks, collected buttons for a knitting group that’s making mask guards, and organized an effort to sew 30 isolation gowns and caps. Pistilli is making 10 gowns and caps herself.

Pistilli, a Democrat, represents District 3 on the town meeting and is the body’s deputy majority leader, as well as an organizer for the progressive group Fairfield Standing United.