Mohawk Home Facility Sewing Medical Gowns for Healthcare Workers

Calhoun, GA, April 3, 2020-Mohawk Industries and Fabric Sources International (FSI) are combining resources to create medical gear for Hamilton Medical Center in Dalton, Georgia and Emory Healthcare in Atlanta, Georgia during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Using fabric provided by FSI, Mohawk Home’s Dalton-based rug manufacturing facility is providing industrial sewing equipment for their skilled employees to produce medical protective gear for doctors, nurses and other care providers.

Healthcare providers wear these gowns in non-surgical settings to prevent their clothing from being contaminated by patient body fluids. The gowns are worn when a patient’s symptoms are consistent with COVID-19 or other infectious diseases and contact precautions must be taken.

The Mohawk Home team quickly developed a process for cutting the fabric pattern and sewing together the gown components.

Pasley explained how the team disassembled a medical isolation gown, measured it, copied the size, cut out a pattern by hand, and sewed it back together. Earl Nichols, Mohawk Home senior engineer, and the team broke down every step into a separate process for the team and set up a small assembly line in a day.

The sewing team adapted quickly to the new product and material. Production has now expanded over the past two weeks from a handful of gowns to 1,200 per day, with plans to continue speeding up the process.

About 1,000 of these medical gowns are being donated to Hamilton Medical Center, and the groups have also begun supplying gowns to Emory’s hospital system.

As much as possible, the teams plan to expand production to meet the needs of other area hospitals facing supply shortages.

The group has also begun the process of creating plastic face shields, another item needed by healthcare providers for protection when they treat patients. The face shield design has been approved by the hospitals, and the group is refining its manufacturing process to determine its capacity.