The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
ALL HANDS ON DECK
Susan Moriarty of Killorglin with some of the face masks she made and donated on Tuesday to the Red Cross, in a bid to tackle transmission of COVID-19.
“NOT all heroes wear capes”: the words of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar were borrowed by Coláiste Gleann Lí principal Richard Lawlor in recent days to describe the work of teacher Michael O’Sullivan, who is hard at work producing face shields for those who need them most at this time.
And similar good deeds are underway in Killorglin, thanks to Susan Moriarty.
In Tralee, Coláiste Gleann Lí is part of a nationwide drive to produce such shields, and its first batch of shields was distributed to health facilities in recent days. It comes after Michael acquired the prototype needed for production – and Richard said he wasn’t one bit surprised that the teacher rose to the task.
“He got the prototype through his network, and we’re lucky enough here to have the specialist machine, a laser cutter machine, that we need to make these,” Richard said. “We got it recently enough ahead of teaching technology in the school for the first time, a subject Michael teaches.
“The first batch was distributed recently, and was given, mainly, to nursing homes, GP surgeries etcetera.
“Michael is very astute, very knowledgeable, brings a lot of expertise to the table. He would be well-known for his expertise in robotics, for example, and I’m not a bit surprised he’s doing this. Not all heroes wear capes. He has a young family, but he has risen to the task, and I have massive admiration for him.”
Richard said that others will be coming on board to support Michael so that all the teacher has to think about is the production side of things. A critical-incident team will assess the requests for the shields, while Michael will also be accompanied by other members of staff, within current health guidelines, as he goes about his work. Richard was also extremely thankful for the support network around the school, including Kerry ETB – who will cover production costs – Councillor Terry O’Brien, and County Cork-based Miko Metals, who are behind the raw materials being used.
“As a school, we’re a community college, and we are no strangers to working with the community – but everything we do is done in conjunction with the support network around us,” Richard added.
Over in Killorglin, meanwile, sitting at home bored during the current lock-down prompted one woman to find out what she could do amidst during the crisis.
Now Susan Moriarty’s sewing machine is going continuously to make face-masks for the Irish Red Cross during the current pandemic. A shortage of masks has been one of the key concerns during the crisis and Susan’s offerings will hopefully help support those who are working around the clock to help the community.
While they are not to the standard of medical masks, they offer some protection, and the Kerry Red Cross has received two deliveries from Susan.
“I was going nuts around the house. It was so frustrating not being able to do something. I do a lot of voluntary work and I just wanted to keep my mind active,” she said “Then I read the Kerry Red Cross were looking for hand sanitiser and masks, and I heard that there was a shortage of them in Ireland so I made a few and then rang the Kerry Red Cross, and they were delighted,” she explained.
Susan has had some difficulty sourcing elastic, but the local community has rowed in behind her by dropping off donations of material to help.
Susan suffers from arthritis, but the condition doesn’t stop her sewing.
She is a member of a quilting and sewing group in Keel, and the material left over from these enterprises has been used to make the masks. Susan even created a few unique masks – one of which features Harry Potter.
“It would be nice to wear if you were going to a child’s house,” she said.
She has been inundated with calls for masks since then and has sold some to the public for €3.50. She can be found on Facebook for requests, and the funds are used to buy elastic and material.
“It has just snowballed once people heard. It is probably helping me more than it is helping others, but is nice to know I am doing something.”