Disposable Earloop Masks - 50/bx

Surgical face masks originally were developed to contain and filter droplets of microorganisms expelled from the mouth and nasopharynx during surgery. They were introduced about a century ago as a method for protecting patients from the risk of surgical wound infections. The primary purpose of a surgical mask is to provide the patient protection from surgical team members. Believe it or not, many people wear this style of mask when mowing their lawn or working around smelly chemicals or to keep warm when outside in freezing weather! Medical practitioners — don't forget about gowns, caps, gloves and shoe covers too!

Who Invented The Disposable Surgical Mask?
A fellow named Jim Sorenson. James LeVoy Sorenson was a baby when his parents, Joseph and Emma, moved from Idaho to a tar-papered chicken coop in Yuba City, where Joseph dug sewer lines for a living.

Self-doubt plagued young Jim. He was an undiagnosed dyslexic labeled "retarded" by his first-grade teacher. His mother refused to give up on him; with her help he learned to read.

"I developed ways to compensate for my disability," Sorenson says. "I learned to look at things differently, to slow down and contemplate what was going on. The deficit became a plus."

He thought of the disposable surgical mask in the 1950s, he says, after watching doctors discard foul-smelling laundered masks and learning that thinly spun glass was the most effective microbe filter. He paid Corning Inc. $8,000 to produce the material and shelled out $65,000 for a gluing machine to assemble the masks. Soon he was manufacturing 3,000 pieces per hour and selling them for 17 cents each.