A team of fifteen volunteers from Volvo Group companies Renault Trucks, Volvo Trucks, Volvo Bus and Volvo Financial Services who are currently on furlough have produced thousands of single use, disposable plastic aprons. These aprons are destined for use in hospices and care homes throughout the region to help combat COVID-19.
Ruth Freeman, CEO, The Myton Hospices commented:
Hospices including Myton have come under immense pressure since the outbreak of COVID-19 and, like the NHS and care homes, our teams are working tirelessly on the front-line to provide the best end of life care for all our patients. It is vital that our staff are properly equipped and the aprons, so kindly manufactured and donated by the team at Volvo Group UK, will help to protect staff, volunteers, patients and visitors by minimising the risk of spreading the virus.”
Apron Assembly Line
Working out of Volvo Group UK’s Warwick headquarters, the volunteers, who are all currently on furlough, have returned under strict ‘COVID-secure’ guidelines to manufacture around 1000 per day of the single use, disposable plastic aprons that play an essential role in protecting care workers and patients.
The template for the aprons was supplied by Renault Trucks France, where the initiative orginiated. Executive Assistant at Renault Trucks UK & Ireland, Vickie Thomas, who heads up the UK team of volunteers, explains:
When our Managing Director, Carlos Rodrigues, heard that colleagues in Lyon were making disposable aprons to help front-line workers, he contacted me to see if any of our furloughed colleagues in the UK would be interested in doing the same here. We quickly established a team of fifteen volunteers from across the Group, including Volvo Trucks and Volvo Penta as well as Renault Trucks.
She continues, “There’s a great sense of camaraderie here, the music’s on and we’re all pleased to give our time to help those on the front-line with much needed PPE such as The Myton Hospices which is playing a vital role in supporting the response to COVID-19 across Coventry and Warwickshire.”
Electric Delivery
On 23rd May, Vickie drove the 14 miles from the Volvo Group’s Wedgnock Lane headquarters to Coventry Myton Hospice in a 100% electric Renault Trucks Master Red EDITION Z.E. van to deliver the first batch of 3,800 aprons. A second batch of aprons will be delivered to Heart of England Mencap in Stratford-upon-Avon, a registered charity supporting people with learning disabilities across Warwickshire and Worcestershire on Friday 5th June.