{"id":1436,"date":"2020-04-16T15:34:09","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T14:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2025-05-19T15:36:31","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T14:36:31","slug":"supporting-pilgrims-hospices-to-stay-safe-during-the-covid-19-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/2020\/04\/16\/supporting-pilgrims-hospices-to-stay-safe-during-the-covid-19-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Pilgrims Hospices to stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The innovation and enterprise team were contacted by a local surgery who were in need of protective face shields against Covid-19. The team put them in contact with technicians in the Schools of Computing and Architecture to design and supply these shields. The tech team worked continuously over the course of the weekend to design, create and print a prototype.<\/p>\n

Here is the press release from this amazing endeavour.<\/p>\n

Colleagues from Kent\u2019s <\/span>School of Computing<\/a>,\u00a0<\/span>School of Architecture and Planning<\/a>, and the\u00a0<\/span>School of Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA)<\/a>\u00a0collaborated to design and supply 300 sets of\u00a0<\/span>personal protective equipment (PPE)<\/strong>\u00a0for East Kent\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>largest hospice charity<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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Paul Sinnock, Director of IT for EDA and the Technical Lead of the project, said: \u2018The response from everyone involved in this project has been\u00a0truly remarkable<\/strong>. Technical staff from across the University, supported by our Kent Innovation and Enterprise team, have been\u00a0working around the clock<\/strong>\u00a0to design, test and manufacture these face shields and get them to the\u00a0front line staff most in need<\/strong>\u00a0of protection. From the original concept through to the creation of a dedicated manufacturing centre, it has been a truly collaborative effort,\u00a0driven by a real passion<\/strong>\u00a0to support our local community. I am extremely proud of everyone involved for giving their time and skills for\u00a0such an important project<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n

Sarah Martins, Senior Ward Sister of Pilgrims Hospice Canterbury, said: \u2018The University of Kent\u2019s support was in direct response to our\u00a0urgent request for PPE<\/strong>, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The team were\u00a0very responsive and helpful<\/strong>\u00a0and it was great to see who was behind the project. The team responded to feedback from prototype testing immediately \u2013 within 24 hours we had approved changes and the team started production. With a total turnaround time of\u00a0seven working days<\/strong>, I took delivery of\u00a0300 face shields<\/strong>\u00a0and distributed them across our three sites so we were all well prepared for the bank holiday. Thank you to everyone involved in making this happen, it makes a\u00a0huge difference to the patients and staff<\/strong>\u00a0here at the Hospice and enables us to continue\u00a0caring without compromising safety<\/strong>.\u2019<\/p>\n

Carole Barron, Director of\u00a0Kent Innovation & Enterprise<\/a>, said: \u2018Universities across the UK are joining forces with frontline healthcare providers to find solutions to fight COVID-19. I am simply\u00a0lost for words<\/strong>\u00a0at the speed with which the team at Kent have\u00a0picked up the challenge<\/strong>\u00a0of producing vital 3D printed face shields. We are in unprecedented times and this requires us all to support our amazing NHS and Hospice staff. At a time when everyone is thinking how they can help in this crisis, the University of Kent is well placed to help, in having the\u00a0right equipment, skills and expertise<\/strong>\u00a0to respond.\u2019<\/p>\n

The materials for\u00a0Pilgrims Hospices<\/a>\u2019 3D shields were donated by\u00a0Ashford Lions Club<\/a>, with funding they received from Kent County Council.<\/p>\n

Colleagues from the\u00a0School of Physical Sciences<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0School of Biosciences<\/a>\u00a0have since joined the project team, to cater to future orders from the NHS and other healthcare and hospice providers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The innovation and enterprise team were contacted by a local surgery who were in need of protective face shields against Covid-19. The team put them … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74795,"featured_media":1437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[282613,13897,282605,228278,282608],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74795"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1438,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions\/1438"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/ris\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}