A trio of teachers who joined forces to make PPE for the NHS have donated their latest batch to staff on a children’s ward.
Sarah Wollerton, Caroline Lloyd and Melissa Brown, design and technology teachers at Framingham Earl High, Wymondham College and Hobbart High respectively, have been utilising their know-how to make protective visors in recent weeks.
At the beginning of April they appealed for public donations in a bid to fund their efforts and managed to raise £1200 in a matter of days - a total which has now reached more than £2,200.
Visors have since been delivered to healthcare professionals across the county, including care workers, hospital staff at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and East Anglian Air Ambulance.
Now the trio, with the help of other colleagues, have turned their attention to creating colourful visors for staff at Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital, raising spirits among young patients.
“We started winding down our production a bit because the school term was starting a bit,” explained Ms Lloyd, head of design and technology at Wymondham College.
“But when we got the call from the hospital’s children’s department we couldn’t possibly turn that down.
“When they asked us, we worked out how we could adapt our initial designs to make them a bit more child-friendly. When we handed them over to the staff yesterday, they were really impressed.”
Working’s with Wymondham College’s two specialist laser cutters, the teachers have produced enough visors to donate more than 1500 across Norfolk so far.
Community nurses, GPs and the NNUH’s cardiology department have benefitted from their expertise, while further wards and other hospitals have expressed an interest.
A number of the visors designed specially for the Jenny Lind hospital have a superhero theme, with the premise that the protective equipment is keeping real life superheroes safe during the coronavirus pandemic.
“It has been great to show design and technology in action,” added Ms Lloyd. “We’re looking forward to sharing what we’ve been doing with all the students to demonstrate the subject’s relevance.
“This is what design and technology is all about: designing for clients to solve real world problems.”
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