Coronavirus: The schools supplying PPE for the front line

At St Mark's High School in Warrenpoint, a small team of volunteers has been producing about 140 visors a day

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has seldom been far from the headlines since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with both its quantity and quality coming under the microscope.

In a bid to help ensure key workers have an adequate supply, members of the public and businesses have been doing their best to source and produce usable materials.

But this jolt to the traditional supply chain comes with a challenge.

How can the health professionals, who are at daily risk of being infected with the virus, be sure that what they are getting is the real thing?

Last week, the Southern Trust thanked the community for its "overwhelming generosity" in this regard.

But it asked for anyone who would like to donate to email for advice.

"This will help us keep track of everything and arrange for onward distribution. This also means we have a safe storage area without having people going into hospital areas."

Dr Kevin Lewis, who works in microbiology at Craigavon Area Hospital, explained that donated PPE needs to be tested.

Dr Kevin Lewis explained that donated PPE needs to be tested

"A bad piece of equipment is worse than no equipment because, obviously, people get a false sense of security from it," he said.

"Keeping staff safe is our main priority so we have to be careful about what is coming to us."

Visors made by the staff of a number of local schools are being sent to the hospital.

In the technology lab at St Mark's High School in Warrenpoint, a small team of volunteers has been producing about 140 visors a day, in collaboration with St Mary's High School in Newry.

Noel Morgan is a geography teacher at St Mark's. His wife is a health professional, something that sparked his desire to produce quality kit, initially from his garage.

Schools have come together to make the pieces of kit for hospitals

"She was the one that tried them out and was critical of them," he said.

"We basically robbed the technology departments of the two schools and various other schools came on board - so it has taken off."

According to Brendan Morgan from St Mary's, there is a constant demand for visors.

"There is a lack of PPE. They have contacted us asking what we could supply them with. It looks like the demand is endless.

"We can produce about 140 a day. Yesterday, we made 181, but they weren't finished pieces.

"Currently, there are four people involved in the production and then others involved in the administration, taking orders and giving the product out.

"We do have a mechanism for getting them to Craigavon through the Southern Trust's internal postage system, but normally the medical institutions call here to get them."

Back at the hospital, Dr Lewis outlines why the visors made the grade.

"When we got the first number of masks we were able to see what the rest of the infection team thought of them and once everyone was happy, we knew it was something that we could roll out and be happy to use."

Standing in the reception area of the hospital, dozens of staff make their way through what is known as the "donning area".

Here, they bag and lodge their personal possessions before putting on their PPE.

Colin Clarke, the Southern Trust's Lead Infection Prevention and Control Nurse, believes the high demand for PPE will continue into the long term, meaning community production is proving a very welcome addition to stock.

"Safety is a top priority for all of our staff and we are going through literally thousands of pieces of PPE on a daily basis," he said.

Brendan Morgan from St Mary's said there is a constant demand for visors

"We are so thankful from the public's perspective that they are prepared to help in what are unprecedented times. No one knows how long this will continue for, but it will be significant and we welcome that input from the public."

School principals Una McNulty and Denise Crawley said they - and some other local schools - are in it for the long haul.

"This project will continue as long as the materials are available," Denise said.

"We know that our staff will continue for as long as this is necessary."