I’ve just (40 minutes ago) dropped off 500 vinyl gloves to my local (largish) GP surgery. As an amateur artist, I used these gloves when spray painting or mixing sculpting materials. They used to be dirt cheap when I bought them some 16 years ago.
I rang my surgery beforehand, told them I’d read a plea from councils, GPs, hospitals, etc for donations of protective equipment, and asked if they could use these gloves, pointing out they are not sterile.
They said YES! Anything suitable to help protect them.
What they can’t use, they can distribute to midwives, care homes, other GPs, etc, etc, etc. I thought of driving up to the Royal Berks or Frimley hospitals, but read in the media that GPs, midwives, care homes, etc are at the bottom of the pile for PPE; hence my delivery to them.
So come on folks, root around for protective equipment for our NHS staff to use. No point waiting for the hopeless and hapless overpaid incompetents in government to get their backsides into gear. What is needed are masks (though check they are of a suitable quality), aprons, gloves, etc, etc, etc.
I’ve also been supplying my local GP with various goodies: packets and boxes of mini egg, Celebrations, and three large Easter eggs two days ago. They were ever so appreciative. The surgery staff are being very good and holding off eating the eggs until Easter. Next week, I will be taking some healthy snacks for them (e.g. grapes, satsumas, etc ) but will sneak in some naughty biscuits.
Perhaps the readership of this forum would consider similar donations to their local NHS establishment.
Oh, I also walked the mile or so to my GP surgery. I got my daily exercise in! Win, win. J
Just been speaking to a friend who is making masks using cotton or poly/cotton sheets, also headbands with a one inch button on either side to attach elastic from masks to, more comfortable & easier to change ... she says patterns are available on Youtube!
My first scrub bag from scratch. A piece of 3mm gingham I ordered from a fabric supplier on Sunday. I'm feeling quite chuffed.
I did a number of thing incorrectly, which the memsahib pointed. She did have the grace to say that my 'mistakes' were actions she does automatically and therefore would make them. I'm all too familiar with this, as I did somes development in small AI systems decades ago. Domain experts take in an awful lot and do huge amounts without realising it. Breaking down their thought processes into little steps is quite hard.
I made another bag, today, in pretty short order. However, making squarish things is about as far as I intend going. It's fun. I able to do my bit, but I'm leaving scrubs and the like to my other half. She is far, far more expert than I.
Many sewists would be horrified to watch how I used a pencil and ruler to mark out a 6mm double hem. No way can I do it by eye, plus I automatically mark out in this manner when working with wood or plastic.
My partner was appreciative of my amazement at what I thought to be a fairly cavalier attitude to laying out, cutting out and sewing the material. If I am out by one half of one millimetre or one millimetre at the most then I encounter all sorts of problems. Some bits of my paintings, in particular, just do not look right.
However, with sewing, she could be 1/4" out, and she's not worried. Oh, she says, I'll just fix it here or there or when I do this or the other: and she does!!!
It's a different world.
Unfortunately, I donated my 3-D printer to the Farnborough College of Technology (with a whole roll of PLA), otherwise I'd be banging out face masks. The resolution would have been idle for this sort of application. I wasn't really using the thing, and felt it more worthwhile to allow the next generation of technologists cut their teeth on it.
Hopefully, they are using it to make masks for Frimley hospital and the like.