WWETB were contacted by Zurich who asked for our assistance in producing personal protective equipment for the healthcare sector. Zurich were willing to provide Acrylic sheets and acetate sheets to the project and WWETB agreed to contact a number of health centres across the counties of Waterford and Wexford and to produce the protective headgear.
A committee was set up which included the FabLab co-ordinators Olga Donoghue and John O’Leary, Fablab programme manager Mary Walsh O’Shea, Unit Manager Shay Cummins, AEO Mary Walsh and the innovation and Development Manager Michael O Brien. This is an excellent example of co-operation across the ETB services as the Enniscorthy FabLab is operated through Training Services while the New Ross FabLab is operated through BTEI.
The WWETB FabLab’s in Enniscorthy and New Ross set about designing the headsets for the visors on the sheets to maximise the number which could be attained from each sheet and a matching design to cut the acetate sheets in order to fit the headset.
In total, 25 acrylic sheets and 1400 A4 acetate sheets were donated by Zurich. A total of 255 headsets for the visors were produced. The PPE equipment was washed in alcohol and packed to ensure sterilisation and distributed to 8 health centres.
WWETB Chief Executive, Kevin Lewis asked to pass on his thanks to the committee and expressed his hope that the visors will make a real difference to the community settings to whom they are being supplied.
