News

Coronavirus: Co Derry regional college and blinds firm making face guards for health staff

Magherafelt-based company Bloc Blinds are starting to produce coronavirus face guards from today. Picture from Twitter
Magherafelt-based company Bloc Blinds are starting to produce coronavirus face guards from today. Picture from Twitter Magherafelt-based company Bloc Blinds are starting to produce coronavirus face guards from today. Picture from Twitter

A regional college and a blinds firm, both based in Co Derry, have answered government pleas to help battle the coronavirus.

North West Regional College's (NWRC) Limavady campus has produced more than 150 face guards for health staff in just two days.

It gave 50 of the guards to staff at Foyle Hospice in Derry on Friday.

Bloc Blinds, based in Magherafelt, has begun producing face guards from today. It can make up to 22,000 of the shields a day.

A consultant at Dublin's National Maternity Hospital tweeted that it hoped to receive 5,000 of the face guards from Bloc Blinds every week.

Roger McMorrow, a consultant anaesthetist, said it would receive several hundred next week and 5,000 the following week.

Bloc Blinds had asked people to apply for jobs at the firm to meet demand but now said it is not accepting any more applications.

NWRC had earlier collected all the personal protective equipment it uses on campus and passed it on to health staff.

Within just a week, its product design centre (PDC) had developed a prototype face guard.

It initially produced a few guards using 3-D printing but later switched to a laser cutting technique to speed up the process.

Face guards produced for health staff by the North West Regional College's Limavady campus
Face guards produced for health staff by the North West Regional College's Limavady campus Face guards produced for health staff by the North West Regional College's Limavady campus

PDC manager Philip Devlin said he was pleased by the feedback from health staff.

"We were delighted to deliver 50 units to the Foyle Hospice on Friday and to see the relief on their faces when they received the delivery was worth the hard work and effort that has gone into it to this point and inspired us to try and support more front-line workers," he said.

“Since we began looking at the needs of the health and care sectors we have seen the front-line workers crying out for face guards and we are acutely aware that given our facilities there are still only so many guards that we can manufacture per day. This is why we are encouraging those with the resources to produce, to do so.

“It might only be ten face guards that you can produce but if that prevents ten people from getting this deadly virus it will have been worthwhile.”