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help protect key workers amid the
coronavirus outbreak.
As the world tackles the spread of
the coronavirus, the importance
of good hand hygiene has been
repeatedly emphasised by healthcare
professionals and governments around
the world, leading to a shortage of
hand sanitiser products as their usage
increases.
But in a bid to help the local Royal
Stoke Hospital, academics and
technicians from Keele’s School of
Pharmacy and Bioengineering, and the
Central Science Laboratory, offered
their expertise and the University’s
laboratories to produce more hand
sanitiser to help curb the spread of the
virus.
Using a World Health Organisation
(WHO) approved formula, the team
have so far produced more than 1,100
litres of hand sanitiser to support the
needs of the local University Hospitals
of North Midlands NHS Trust.
Keele University donates laboratory
supplies to help protect healthcare
workers against coronavirus
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
from Keele’s research and teaching
laboratories has been made available
to the front-line NHS workers who
are responding to the coronavirus
pandemic.
A collection drive by staff from Keele’s
Schools of Medicine and Life Sciences
has seen stocks of PPE from Keele’s
laboratories made available, not only
to the Royal Stoke Hospital but also
general practitioners across North
Staffordshire.
Keele University has now amassed
almost 100,000 items of PPE, which
has been made available to healthcare
staff and those working on the frontline
of the pandemic, and this effort is
continuing.
SUPPORTING OUR
COMMUNITIES
Keele Professor contributes to Age
UK coronavirus guidance
A Keele Professor who specialises in
mental health and wellbeing in older
adults has shared her expertise to a
national charity to help older people
cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Professor of General Practice Carolyn
Chew-Graham has contributed to Age
UK’s official website by offering advice
and tips for older people about staying
well and how to cope with isolation
resulting from the pandemic.
The Covid-19 lockdown has had a
particularly profound impact on older
people, many of whom have shielded
themselves to protect against the
virus, and as a result have missed
out on vital social contact with their
friends and family which can have
a tremendous effect on their mental
health.
In order to help older people manage
better throughout this time, Professor
Chew-Graham has partnered with the
charity to offer some vital advice on the
best ways of coping with the lockdown,
and how older people might be able to
start venturing outside again safely.
Generous student donates over
3,000 essential toiletries to local
community
A Keele student collecting essential
toiletries to help vulnerable people
across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-
Trent received over 3,300 donations.
Victoria Black, a final year Children’s
Nursing student, set up The Keele
Beauty Bank in 2018 after being
inspired by her placement on a
paediatric ward during her course.
Here, Victoria helped care for a family
and saw first hand the positive impact
that being able to maintain a basic
level of hygiene can have.
According to In Kind Direct, a charity
that distributes consumer goods to
UK charities working in the UK and
overseas, 37% of the nation are going
without or cutting down on hygiene
essentials due to a lack of funds.
Community legal programme helps
120 vulnerable people during
Covid-19 outbreak
A community legal outreach
collaboration led by Keele University is
continuing to ensure vulnerable people
are supported during the Covid-19
pandemic.
The Community Legal Outreach
Collaboration Keele (CLOCK) is a
collaboration led by Keele University
in partnership with the courts, law
firms and charitable services. The
project has trained Keele law students
as Community Legal Companions to
support families in crisis to access
legal and charitable support, through
signposting to the CLOCK partners,
and assisting directly in court.
Although the government advice was
to stay home in order to stay safe, it
is clear that home may not be a safe
space for all during the lockdown. The
national domestic abuse helpline, run
by the charity Refuge, has reported a
very substantial 700% increase in calls
to the helpline recently, and traffic to its
website and use of web chat facilities
have increased.
During the pandemic, the CLOCK
service has received requests from
schools, children's services, and direct
requests from vulnerable persons
experiencing sexual or domestic
violence. Adapting to social distancing
requirements, CLOCK is continuing to
help people by operating a signposting
service to ensure vulnerable people
are able to access the help that they
need via online and phone services.
Students volunteer to help local
charities amid the coronavirus
outbreak
The Keele Students’ Union appealed
for local charities and organisations
that may need support to help
vulnerable people in Staffordshire
and Cheshire during the coronavirus
outbreak to get in touch.
Keele has over 40 students on-hand
who have volunteered to support local
charities and organisations in this way.
Student volunteers are not in direct
face-to-face contact with vulnerable
people, but support the charities by
running errands, delivering medical
provisions, collecting prescriptions and
filling roles for charities.
Keele Students’ Union help arrange
placements, match students to suitable
opportunities and offer support to
charities with arranging volunteers.