DESIGN technology teacher Helen Vardy has swapped lessons for manufacturing as she creates 150 protective visors per day to support Sheffield’s medical support teams through the Covid-19 pandemic.
Helen, who teaches at King Ecgbert’s School in Dore, is one of the teachers throughout the city putting their skills to practical use - with St Luke’s being one of the organisations to benefit from her efforts.
The St Luke’s team received a delivery of 100 visors, all of which are made from polypropylene, which means they can be disinfected and re-used.
“I was upset about the prospect of health care workers not having adequate personal protective equipment,” said Helen.
“It made me think about people who are on the front line, people like hospital staff, GPs and the team at St Luke’s.
“My mum used to work at the hospice and like everybody in Sheffield I know people who have been supported by them so I was very happy to be able to deliver 100 visors.”
Helen has worked from a design that was shared by the Design Technology community, with schools throughout Sheffield getting together to create a crowd funding page to fund the work being done by Helen and her colleagues.
“We’ve raised more than £4,000 already and the visors cost only £1 to make,” she said.
“There’s only me going in to do the work at King Ecgbert’s so I don’t have to worry about social distancing.
“I do miss the students and I am missing teaching so working on this has also been a distraction for me and helped me to feel purposeful.
“It’s nice to be able to help people, it’s an important thing for us all to do - one of the good things coming out of all this is number of people being kind to each other.”
Our Director of Care and Lead for Healthcare Partnerships Jo Lenton said: “It is thanks to the efforts of people like Helen that we are able to continue working with the people of Sheffield who need our support as much as ever throughout this national crisis.
“We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our supporters and delighted by the many different ways they are coming up with to ensure our work goes on.”