A Nottingham care home has received a special donation of face masks from the county’s Police and Crime Commissioner Paddy Tipping to help protect staff and residents amid the coronavirus crisis.
The PCC safely delivered 500 face masks to the Conifers Rest Home in Bakersfield, Nottingham, following a donation from Ipswich-based windows covering firm Global International.
A national shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has left care homes struggling to protect frontline care workers during the pandemic, forcing many to buy their own supplies online at greatly-inflated prices.
Mr Tipping said: “Our frontline care workers and hospital staff are doing an amazing job and risking their lives every day to protect vulnerable people including the elderly from this dreadful disease. Conifers is practically my next door neighbour and I wanted to help.
“I was delighted to be able to pass on this generous donation from Global International to the Conifers Rest Home to boost their supplies and help ensure their hardworking staff continue to stay safe during the pandemic. I have enormous gratitude for the work they do and send all staff and residents the very warmest of wishes.”
Debra Buxton, manager of Conifers Rest Home, said: “We are very grateful for the donation. We’ve been in lockdown since March 15 so we have been blessed with the fact we’ve had no suspected cases at all among our staff or residents.
“We have some PPE equipment but if we had an outbreak we would run out very quickly. This has built up our supplies for a little bit longer.
“I’ve purchased masks, face shields, aprons and gloves. We had the home sanitised by a company which we paid for ourselves. The only donation we’ve received is the one from Paddy.
“Any donation of help is gratefully received. It’s nice to think people haven’t forgotten us.”