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University helps NHS and key workers in coronavirus battle Hundreds of face shields to help protect frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic are being produced by a team of technicians at Kingston University. The protective face shields are being made using laser-cutting and 3D-printing equipment in the university’s workshops at the faculty of science, engineering and computing’s Roehampton Vale campus and at Kingston School of Art’s Knights Park campus. Using open source instructions put together by Prusa Printers and Protohaven, the team is assembling more than 300 face shields a week which are being donated to a range of NHS and public-facing organisations across the local area – from GP surgeries to care homes, food banks, schools and charities. More than 25 organisations have so far received face shields and the university is liaising with Kingston’s Borough Resilience Forum to identify further groups in need of the protective equipment. Having already distributed personal protective equipment (PPE) including gloves, safety glasses and lab coats from the university laboratory stockpile to Kingston Hospital and Kingston
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Health Centre earlier in the pandemic, the technicians began looking at what else they could do to help. David Utton, head of technical services in the faculty of science, engineering and computing, said: “We’ve got a fantastic team of technicians here and we were all keen to find a way to continue doing what we could to support the frontline workers putting themselves at risk for us all every day. “It took a little time to source the materials we needed and there was then some trial and error as we tried different ways of manufacturing the shields. But we’ve now perfected the process and the team is doing an amazing job, producing more than 300 a week across the two workshops.”
avoid hospital admission and prepare clients’ homes for hospital discharge. She said: “We were so grateful to receive a batch of the face shields from Kingston University. It’s so important to have protective equipment like this when our staff
and volunteers are out working in the community. Wearing the shields helps to ensure we minimise the risk of infection, keeping our staff healthy and protecting the older people we are supporting. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all involved.”
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH INSURANCE.
One of the organisations to benefit from the face shields is independent charity, Age UK Wandsworth. Charlotte Allen at Age UK Wandsworth said her team were using the face shields when going out into the community to fit safety rails, key safes and other equipment in older people’s homes, moving furniture for hospital equipment to
0203 8550971 www.pinnaclehealthcare.co.uk
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