A York teacher has made 60 visors to protect NHS staff in York.
After hearing about the shortage of face masks for health professionals, Paul realised that his design and technology department at St Peter’s School has the machinery and equipment to manufacture the visors.
With the support of head teacher Jeremy Walker, Paul worked to manufacture the face masks from polypropylene sheet and photocopy film.
He used laser cutting rather than 3D printing to increase the speed of manufacture. One shield can be cut and assembled in about six minutes.
He initially made five sample face masks for the approval of York Teaching Hospital Trust and was given the go ahead to produce a further 60 visors which were collected from St Peter’s School by Dr Nigel Durham on Thursday (2 April).
‘An amazing effort’
Dr Nigel Durham, consultant cardiologist at York NHS Foundation Trust, said:
I can’t thank Mr Cooper enough for his kind offer and innovation. It is an amazing effort and his visors are much needed to help us work safely among Covid19 patients.
The support myself and my colleagues have received from everyone at St Peter’s School has been overwhelming and fantastic. It means so much during these difficult times.
Paul said: “At this time we all want to use our skills and resources to support each other, especially those on the front line dealing with this difficult situation.
“This is exactly what Design and Technology is all about and why we have it in the curriculum. It’s about creative problem solving and preparing students to solve problems that we don’t yet know exist.”