Producing PPE against Covid-19

[Techno]

Top job, Leon....Well done to the team ! 

Cheers - Phil

[fsn]

You know, this is the only bit of virus news I read ... well that and Captain Tom.

Good news that you seem to have fulfilled the NE and Scotland's requirements. Well done.

If you have any left over at the end of the ... situation ... then would you sell them off? I fancy trying one for minor jobs like when using the Dremmel.

[Leon]

If you have any left over at the end of the ... situation ... then would you sell them off? I fancy trying one for minor jobs like when using the Dremmel.

We'll have the laser files still so we can produce them again going forward, no worries there.  I'm not sure how many we'll have left but we can certainly have a look when the time comes.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

How are the funds holding up?

[Leon]

How are the funds holding up?

Funds are all fine, the response we got from everybody was incredible so we've got more than enough in there to keep producing for a long time.  We spoke with our local council PPE guy last week and he said that they're starting to see large-scale manufacturers get up to speed now so there should be a lot more equipment coming into the supply chains over the coming weeks.  There's one near us here (Labman) who are producing 1000's per day so once they've supplied all of the hospitals they can start distributing to the care homes, surgeries, pharmacies that we're currently getting requests from.

[Leon]

PPE Update (Mon): We're getting on top of the production so for the first time in 3 weeks we've got face shields prepped and ready to go straight out! The requests are slowing down as the regular PPE channels get up to speed, but we'll keep going for now until the material runs out (at 6000 produced) and see whether we're still needed.

Today's batches went out to:
North East Nursing & Care Services. (300)
Stanley Park care home (100)
Middlesbrough Grange Residential Care Home (30)

[paulr]

 

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Good stuff guys

[Big Insect]

Shame you are not closer to Bristol Leon - the need amongst the local smaller in-home elderly and dementia support care businesses is still urgent.

We know of one local Bristol business - Home Instead - that enables the elderly to remain in their own homes with daily support - where the staff are having to use home-made masks, as they just cannot get anything else. Often their customers are very frail and medically very vulnerable but are strong-willed and self determined enough to want to remain in their homes and the community, and they rely on these staff as a daily life-line and much needed company against total isolation. 

I am sure there must be similar situations up near you as well but I expect these small businesses - with hugely dedicated staff - probably are unaware that the fantastic service you provide is available to them.

Keep up the fantastic work
Mark

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Get them to contact Leon, he will send stuff down.

[Leon]

We'll get some down to you, no worries.

I am sure there must be similar situations up near you as well but I expect these small businesses - with hugely dedicated staff - probably are unaware that the fantastic service you provide is available to them.

Luckily we've been able to go through our local council guy, who sent an email out to their whole business directory about it, so all of the local care homes and facilities have been made aware of us (and others in the area doing it).

[jimduncanuk]

We'll get some down to you, no worries.

Luckily we've been able to go through our local council guy, who sent an email out to their whole business directory about it, so all of the local care homes and facilities have been made aware of us (and others in the area doing it).

I emailed a chum today who is working in the local infirmary office monitoring PPE usage. It would be interesting to hear what he will/can say.

[Leon]

PPE Update (Tues): Just a small update for today, with 100 shields given to Premier Care Homes for their staff.  We've got 260 booked in for tomorrow, so the supply continues!

[paulr]

 

Good to hear that the more formal supply channels appear to be starting to meet demand

[Leon]

PPE Update (Wed): Today we had 220 face shields going out, including 100 posted down to a home care group in Bath! Batches went to:
Chasedale Care Home, Blyth (60)
Home Instead Senior Care Bath and West Wiltshire (100)
North East Nursing, Redcar (60)

PPE Update (Thurs): We had a few more going out today with batches going to:
Community Integrated Care (160)
James Cook University Hospital Neurological Department (40)
More updates to come soon!

[Techno]

Terrific work again, 'Team Leon'. 

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Keep it up Leon

[Big Insect]

Thanks so much for send some out to Home Instead Leon & team - really needed and rally appreciated.

[paulr]

 

[Leon]

PPE Update (Sunday): We'd like to thank everyone again for all of your donations, the response we've received has been incredible and we really appreciate your generosity during these difficult times.

We've seen the requests for the PPE really slow down over the last 7 days and we've only got 10 face shields booked in for this coming week. We've also got close to 300 face shields prepped and ready to go out as soon as folks need them. From talking to our local council it would seem that the proper PPE supply routes are getting back up to speed now, which is fantastic.

At this point we've decided to turn off the donations for the funding, as we've got more than enough here to pay for all of the material costs we've incurred so far. If something changes and we need to resume face shield production, we've got enough to pay for further material if necessary. We could also look at using some of the funds to purchase professional face shields and distribute those instead.

There will be a chunk of money left over which will be donated to charity. Once we've got the rest of the face shields sent out and things have calmed down a little, we'll be sending out a full costing breakdown so that you can see exactly where your donations have been spent and which charities we have donated to.

Thanks again for your support, it means so much to so many people currently on the frontline. We're all living in a strange world right now and to see everyone working together towards something positive has been fantastic to be a part of.