————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-This is an open email sent to the leadership of Redford Township to publicly recommend the use of face masks for the pblic, during this pandemic. Show support or not. This is your chance to weigh in. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

 I, as a Registered Nurse, in the field for better than 30 years, have been advocating for the public’s use of face masks during this pandemic. There has always been scientific evidence that supports this. It is a standard health care practice in the field. We are not blazing new ground here. The lungs of health care workers are not any different than that of the public. Some folks have been misled to believe that this pandemic is a hand washing, deep cleaning, hand sanitizer sort of disease. This is a respiratory, airborne disease. Hand washing is always a component to disease transmission control, but, in this case, it is not the main defense like some people have been led to believe. If one is going to get this virus it will most likely be from breathing it in.

To this end, Oakland County is recommending the use of face masks for the public. In the interest of decreasing the number of folks getting sick and possibly dying, I am going to ask that Redford Township leadership show leadership and advocate the use of face masks by the public.

Let me give you an analogy to this same situation that took place a few years ago. While working in an Emergency Room, the paramedics were somewhat frequently bringing kids into the E.R. strung out on a substance called “Spice”, that could readily be purchased at gas stations. I would ask why the Hell wasn’t the government doing something to stop this? It went on for years, while I expected someone else to do something about it to address the situation. It wasn’t until some police chief, with gonads, from a community along 8 Mile Road, put some sort of order in place prohibiting the sale of the substance that this health hazard was dealt with. Other communities followed suit. It seemed that it just took one individual to step up to save lives.

I am asking that the leadership structure in Redford Township to step up on this and to recommend that the public wear face masks. Some masks are more effective than others, but any protection is better than no protection. As I have recommended in the past, the government is already providing financial support to our colleges and universities. There are really smart people on these campuses who have already worked and researched what materials are more effective to be used for face masks. Phone calls from the government can find out this information out and provide it to the public, so the public can make more effective face masks for their personal protection. Redford Township would not make the phone calls to the educational institutions, but to advocate this action to the higher levels of government. This information can be also made available nationwide, affecting millions of people, since our whole nation is affected by this pandemic.

Hind sight is always great and 20/20, but this is not the case where we can use it. Opportunities to contain the spread of the disease, meaning limiting suffering, sickness, tragedy, and death are being lost every day. We can never go back, so this requested move for the Township to act is time sensitive.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

Respectfully,

Jim Bailey, R.N.

Parks Commissioner