SignStix Helps With The 3D Printing Of PPE Face Visors For UK Frontline Organisations
AN ARTS-based company in Selby has delivered over 300 PPE face visors to 27 different pharmacies, hospitals, community first responders and care homes across the UK – with the help from local businesses and the community.
SLAM (Selby Live Arts and Music), based in Selby, has donated over 300 PPE face visors to UK Frontline workers. Thorpe Willoughby & Barlby Pharmacy, Lake & Orchard Residential and Nursing Home, York A&E Hospital, The Covid-19 Ward at Pinderfields Hospital, The Royal Blackburn Hospital and a host of other frontline organisations around the UK.
SLAM member Terasa Hope said we were asked by an A&E doctor at York Hospital to 3D print protective face masks for staff and we wanted to provide these to all key workers and frontline staff in need of this equipment.
She said: “Although we can’t provide the usual events we put on, we merry little foursome, Gaz, Ben, Coley and myself, are doing what we can to print and provide PPE for frontline workers with the help of our community following and their generous donations.
About SLAM
Over the first weeks of donating their protective face visors, SLAM decided to go that one step further and start making ear savers for protective masks alongside the visors. Terasa added, “Hopefully these can go a little way to making those epically long shifts more comfortable for staff members who are working hard and helping to save lives in such a difficult time.”
SLAM doesn’t simply host open mic nights, they rent space, invite local people along, and supply drinks and snacks. From the very beginning, people were encouraged to make a donation, and 100% of the proceeds have been donated to various local charities ever since.
However, when news of the COVID-19 pandemic first broke and the nation’s PPE shortage began to hit the headlines, their attention turned to how they could support the national effort to battle the virus.
That’s why the last £1,000 in the coffers was used to set up a 3D printing operation manufacturing face masks to protect key workers.
Best and Safest Design
“The visors are a combination of all the best and safest design elements brought together,” explained Gaz Rowntree. “We had four printers up and running at the height of our production, so we were able to produce and deliver approximately 70 face guards per week.
Gaz said “A 3D printer was lent to us from SignStix in Leeds who specialises in digital signage and UNTHA UK a waste management service in Roecliffe gifted us with £400 to buy additional materials. Our team are very grateful, and we wouldn’t have been able to boost manufacturing capacity and get as many of the visors out to frontline workers if it wasn’t for the generosity of companies and the public.
Gaz concluded, “We still have a few visors left and there may be some residential and nursing homes, pharmacies, hospitals or frontline organisations who we have not been in contact with and we want to be able to make and donate these, so they have some form of protection and aid for staff members.”
Statements from Frontline Workers
In a Facebook post, the daughter of a care worker said: Amazing! Thank you ever so much! That puts my mind a little at rest!
A mother of an ICU worker said: “Just received some of these bands [ear savers] from these lovely people [SLAM] to send to my daughter who works in ICU at Whiston Hospital in Liverpool. Can’t thank you enough very grateful.”
SLAM added anyone who needs face visors or ear savers should contact us via https://www.facebook.com/selbyliveartsandmusic/
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