Urgent care health workers in Torbay Hospital have received purpose-made protective visors thanks to the generosity and hard work of a local businessman.
Staff in the Emergency Assessment Unit in the hospital, run by Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, are full of praise for the effectiveness of the visors which are made to national specifications and supplement those already in use during the pandemic.
Phil Jackson and his wife Victoria have also made more than 5,000 individually designed visors. They have made them for Totnes and Brixham community hospitals, run by the Trust, and GP surgeries and care homes across Devon and Bristol, as their way of saying thank you to NHS staff during the coronavirus response.
Phil is supported by other local companies and individuals who have contributed in paying for the materials to make and to distribute the visors, which include 500 to Torbay Hospital.
Phil, who runs Logos and Monograms of Brixham, said: “Victoria and I are both full of admiration for NHS staff who are keeping us all safe during the pandemic.
“We both wanted to do something to pay back the nurses, doctors and care workers by using our skills to making PPE, which would normally be employed in embroidering school and other uniforms.
“So, as we have spare capacity in our business due to the lockdown, we have dedicated our workshop at the back of the shop to making more than 5,000 visors in four weeks.”
Visors are then bagged up in our shop and by volunteer staff from Twittwoo – the shop next door, and bought and distributed by other businesses also supporting the supply of the personal protection equipment.
He added: “The idea is to help keep our key workers safe; not to make any profit. Our motivation is making a small difference at this time when others are putting their health on the line to help us all.”
Samantha Baker, Ward Manager of Emergency Assessment Unit 4, said: “We are delighted to receive this equipment from Phil and Victoria. It is fantastic to have their support in this way, at a time when their business would otherwise be closed. Their professionally produced visors are adding to our local PPE stocks, which help us keep our staff and patients safe.”
Phil thanked all those who have helped fund the manufacture of the visors including Jake from Fairalls Fruit & Veg in Brixham, Ken Rudge of Ocean Health Care, Torbay RNLI crew and Adam Mudge of Brixham Trawler Agents. Adam bought, distributed and donated the order to Torbay Hospital.
Phil started production by supplying ten visors to Compass House Medical Centre as a trial – this expanded to another 50. He started the mini-production line by ordering in materials in bulk and making 5,000 visors in two weeks and by mid-April, working every day including weekends, making between 300 and 500 per day.
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