Care homes across Southport and Ormskirk have benefitted from a donation of more than 7,000 medical visors and personal protective equipment from a leading waste management provider.
Inciner8, an award-winning manufacturer of incinerators, has purchased the stock of PPE from a supplier in Merseyside and opted to provide them to care workers fighting on the front line against Coronavirus.
To decide which nursing and residential homes would benefit from its donation, Inciner8 bosses asked team members to recommend facilities where relatives currently reside, or which hold a special place in their heart.
Following the nominations, the equipment has been donated to care homes Queenscourt Hospice, Stocks Hall, Hatherlow House and The Holies, and to home health service Alcedo Care. A donation was also made to Southport District Hospital, with remaining supplies being distributed to NHS Hesketh Centre, HMP Liverpool and Parenting 2000 in Southport.
The visors, which meet international standards of safety and offer protection from droplets and splashes of liquids, were manufactured by Richardsons Healthcare in Liverpool, which is offering businesses the chance to purchase its excess PPE stock to distribute to worthy causes.
The company has reduced its usual production to focus on manufacturing vital face masks for NHS workers and recruited volunteers from more than 60 Merseyside families to produce up to 5,000 visors per day. All profits raised from the manufacture of the healthcare PPE will be donated back to the NHS.
Halima Wild, sales and spare parts administrator at Inciner8, nominated Hatherlow House to be a recipient of the visors as her stepmother has worked there for four years.
She said: "Hatherlow House Residential Care Home provides retirement living and self-contained accommodation for the elderly and elderly couples with all the care and support they need, helping to improve the quality of life for the older generation. During this outbreak, staff at the home have risked and sacrificed so much to protect their residents, but they can only do that effectively with the right equipment.
"My stepmum and her colleagues were overwhelmed when I explained the company I work for had purchased enough equipment to help them carry out their day-to-day tasks safely in the wake of this pandemic. Understandably, many donations like this are made to NHS workers but we can't forget about care home staff; they offer an essential service to our elderly.
"I'm proud to work for a company which has taken matters into its own hands to ensure care workers across our local region are taken care of themselves."
Sandra Saleh, Halima's stepmum, said: "Care home workers across the UK have put themselves on the front line during this pandemic, and all because we feel it a personal duty to protect the country's elderly.
"We feel humbled that Inciner8 has recognised the contribution care home workers and other key workers outside of the NHS make to the tackling of this deadly virus within our region. Their donation of PPE is unbelievably generous and won't just ensure our elderly residents are cared for but will mean that our staff can stay fit and well enough to be by their side through this unsettling time."
Inciner8 offers global waste management solutions, providing a diverse international client portfolio with market-leading incinerators that remain at the forefront of British manufacturing from its 25,000 sq ft manufacturing HQ on Canning Road in Southport.
