Agnes making masks for nursing homes
WHILE Wexford town is pretty much deserted, in a shop on Henrietta street the noise of a busy sewing machine can still be heard. Inside Gúnadóir alterations Agnes Tyghe is hard at work. While for the moment the doors of the newly opened alterations shop remain closed, the Polish native along with her husband Dane are keeping busy and hoping to help a little bit with the challenges posed by Covid-19 - by providing sought after face-masks.
From her workbench in the shop, Agnes can get through upwards of 25 masks per day and with businesses forced to shut, she and husband Dane decided to try and do a little good.
‘A few customers and friends suggested it to us,’ Dane says. ‘ That put the idea in our head. We weren’t sure if it was viable and if we’d need special material to bring them up to the required standard, but I did a bit of research online and cotton masks are said to work very well and are washable.’
‘It sounds corny,’ he continues. ‘But we didn’t want to make a profit out of this thing and sell masks or anything like that. It just didn’t feel right. So we got in touch with a couple of organisations. The hospitals and the HSE seemed to be well kitted out so I got in touch with Wygram Nursing Home.
The staff and residents there were all in good spirits, but there was a shortage of facemasks if they were to have any issues. At this point we said we could provide them free of charge and we dropped up the first batch last week.’
Each of the masks that comes off Agnes’ sewing machine is 100% cotton, contains a filter in the middle and is completely reusable.
‘I know Wygram were delighted with them,’ Dane said. ‘ The plan now is to ring around the other nursing homes in Wexford and see if we can help them. Our attitude is that you get back in life what you put in and we’re delighted to be able to help.’