Sewing stars working hard to provide scrubs for healthcare workers

Reporter: Grace Marner
Date published: 21 April 2020

Community groups up and down the UK are sewing supplies like scrubs, scrub bags, headbands and masks extenders to help keep healthcare workers safe.

Zoe and Maxine are coordinating the Scrubs Hub Rochdale, Oldham and Bury group. 

Zoe said that they saw the UK-wide initiative have been started but noticed that the smaller towns were being forgotten. 

She said: "The requests are coming in thick and fast, not only from the hospitals though.

"We have care homes, GP practices, swab team, community nurses, community mental health teams who are not usually supplied with scrubs and are finding themselves on the frontline, having to wear their big thick uniforms as well as PPE over the top so we realised very quickly that there was a massive need so the nurses feel more comfortable in the situation they're working in and for them to feel safe as well. 

"So we supply each set of scrubs with a scrub bag as well so at the end of their shift, their able to put their scrubs into the bag and not have any contact with it, they can go home and out that straight into the washing machine and they're not having to go home in their uniform so a lot of the nurses are saying that's just a massive help and they feel so much safer going home and not having contaminated clothing passing onto their family.

She added that it hasn't all been plain sailing but the feedback from the frontline makes the hard work worth it.

"It's been stressful. With these requests you totally feel what these doctors and nurses are going through and you want to help everybody immediately so it has been quite stressful bu then very soon after you manage to get the items out and we're getting pictures back where the nurses are all smiling and holding up their scrubs.

"I had feedback from a nurse on a children's ward and she just messaged me and said 'I don't think I can express how happy I feel just being able to go home and not be putting anybody at risk. 

"When we share the feedback with our volunteers it just gives them a little extra push to just keep going and get the products out to the nurses."

Hundreds of people have volunteered since they set up the Facebook page just a few weeks ago. Within just 12 days, they had over 300 volunteers.

Everyone who is helping is at a different level so they sew different patterns according to their ability.

"Our most mature lady is 89 years old and she's sewing scrub bags and she's absolutely amazing. Some of the volunteers are living at home on their own with no contact with their family, they can't go to their usual group or socialise and a lot of them are struggling with social media and doing this they still feel like their part of something and giving back to society."

The fabric has been quite hard to come by and comes at a cost, but so far on their Go Fund Me page, they have raised over £4,000.

The logistics have been difficult in the first few weeks while trying to keep in line with government guidelines, but the dedicated team is making it work. 

If you would like to get involved you can visit the Facebook Page or email Zoe Sutcliffe on blingboutique@hotmail.co.uk

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.