'This was like some Little House on the Prairie shit': The intensive care(work) of making PPE during COVID-19. (15th March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stalp, Marybeth; Leap, Braden; Kelly, Kimberly
• Is Part Of: Journal of leisure research. Volume 54:Number 2(2023)
• Page Start: 250
• Page End: 268
• Publication Date: 2023-03-15
• Subjects: COVID-19 -- carework for the self and others -- volunteering -- project-based leisure -- gendered disaster research; Leisure -- Periodicals; Leisure; Periodicals; 790.05
• DOI: 10.1080/00222216.2022.2142082
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-2216

Abstract

Abstract: In March 2020 during the first wave of COVID-19 in the United States, the national supply and distribution of personal protective equipment (PPE) was dangerously underwhelming. Skilled volunteer quilters, sewists and 3D printer enthusiasts emerged in a groundswell of life-saving gendered disaster response, creating face masks, ear savers, and face shields. Making PPE was both tiring and comforting, a distraction from, and solution to, the pandemic, revealing the tense overlap between volunteering and project-based leisure opportunities. Qualitative data collected from July 2020 to January 2021 demonstrate PPE makers engaging in carework for the self—turning to a chosen leisure activity to relieve anxiety and provide a needed momentary distraction from the pandemic, and carework for others—constructing and distributing PPE for those in need.