The Erez family of Springfield was inspired to make face shields after viewing the instructional video by Dr. Scott Chudnoff, MD, OBG, of Teaneck, and which has been circulating on YouTube.

Aharon, a fourth grader, and Bailey, a second grader, who attend JEC in Elizabeth, expressed their desire to do something to help out during the coronavirus pandemic. So Elana Erez procured the supplies needed and,based on the instructions shown in Dr. Chudnoff’s video, the family constructed 18 face shields. Elana described the care they took in making the masks so that they would be usable in the hospital. “We wore gloves and sanitized the materials,” said Elana.

They have a friend whose father is Dr. Leon Pirak, MD, chairman of the anesthesiology department at Trinitas Hospital. They know he spends a lot of time in surgery on a regular basis. “We wrapped the sanitized shields carefully, and left them on the front porch of Dr. Pirak’s home” along with a note written by Aharon and Bailey.

Erez noted that she had no idea what would happen once they delivered the shields to Dr. Pirak. She soon found out that he took them to the hospital, and this afternoon a photograph was posted in the “Tapinto” online local news, showing the operating room staff wearing the shields they made!

Their thank-you note to the “brave nurses, doctors and hospital staff” read: “These shields were made with love and appreciation…We cannot express our care and concern enough for you and are keeping you in our hearts and prayers. Thank you for your selflessness during this very crazy time!”

Elana says that they plan to make another batch of shields and are considering other recipients, like Hatzalah or pediatric doctors’ offices. Important to Elana is that her children will have a positive take-away of this dark episode in history.

By Ellie Wolf

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