Hounslow Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association (HBNWA) bought two 3d printers to help production of visors. This is their story…

We joined up with Osterley and Wyke Green Residents Association and created a crowdfunding page for NHS in Hounslow. Before long we were contacted to provide visors and other medical equipment, including scrubs and gowns.

At around the same time we were approached to do the same for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.  It took a day or 2 before that crowdfunding page went live. A group in Chelsea and Westminster also bought two printers that joined our two. The plan for these printers after covid-19 is to lend them out to charities, schools and clubs and provide training on use.

Since then, it’s been all hands on deck....We have two groups of people dealing with crowdfunding (one for each page), an organised manufacturing and distribution line to limit exposure and increase efficiency, numerous volunteers to help with transportation of masks and equipment to and from manufacturing and distribution. The Police and London Fire Brigade help with the final leg of delivery. We do not want volunteers entering hospitals or medical centres unless we can guarantee an outdoor delivery.

The Police have been amazing! We are in a Whatsapp group with a few department heads and all of them have been absolute stars - providing us with staff and vehicles, help with logistics and being so supportive.

Demand was, and still is, extremely high...not only have we been approached by the North West NHS Trust Group, but we get 3 or 4 calls per day along with emails in the double digits to supply PPE.  

It’s who it’s from that i think is driving us all. These are calls from doctors, nurses, trust staff… some crying on the phone for visors, masks, scrubs, surgical gowns, caps and everything else... it’s absolutely crazy. I replied to a doctor...’YOU are the people that WE cry to...not the other way round!’.

Hounslow Borough Neighbourhood Watch Association