The Education Authority (EA) in partnership with schools has coordinated the manufacture of over 10,000 face shields in response to an appeal from Health Trusts for help to supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for frontline staff. Over the Easter weekend supplies of PPE were at a critically low level and EA were contacted by a Health Trust manager to ask if they could assist in providing PPE.

A response team from the EA School Development Service and EA AmmA Centre made contact with schools on Holy Thursday to ask if they could donate any PPE that remained in their schools and if they their technology departments would assist in manufacturing face shields from their stock of thermoplastic. In the Dungannon area St. Patrick’s Academy worked tirelessly over the Easter weekend to exhaust their supply of materials and produced 500 face visors. An additional 650 units were produced in Armagh by members of the AmmA team. These visors and the assorted PPE were distributed by the ‘Covid Response Team’ to local nursing homes, Blue Stone Unit Craigavon, Belfast Royal ICU, GP surgeries and local families caring for critically ill relatives at home. Last week EA and schools learned that levels of PPE were still low for Community Nurses, staff in GP Surgeries and in privately owned Nursing Homes. To help meet community demand, a pallet of polypropylene was purchased through EA with the AmmA Centre acting as a distribution centre for schools located in the Southern and Western regions so their Technology Departments could begin production of additional face shields.