MADRID: Spain has been one of the countries worst-hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, with more than 219,000 reported cases and a current death toll of 22,524.
With the country’s health system swamped and struggling to cope, frontline medical staff have been faced with a desperate shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks, gowns, gloves, and face mask shield protectors.
The Spanish government has been battling to maintain supplies of vital PPE to help protect key workers as well as patients.
However, welcome help has come from an army of industrious Spaniards, with individuals, communities and businesses joining forces to help keep stocks flowing.
Throughout the country initiatives have sprung up to manufacture thousands of items of life-saving PPE which have been donated to hospitals and essential workers.
One such resourceful helper is Sara Martin. She tested positive for COVID-19 and during self-isolation decided to assist in making masks with friends who were part of a local carnival group called A Contrareloj (meaning, race against the clock), in the municipality of Sesena, about 34 km south of the capital Madrid.
Having contracted COVID-19 she was unable to take part in the physical production process but was able to manage the group’s Facebook page through which she could contact organizations in need of masks and coordinate donations of materials to make them.
Other members of the group took a break from making carnival costumes and turned their needlework skills to the task of sewing masks in their homes, each one in charge of a specific job.
“We are a group of seven women volunteers who are making masks. Together we have made more than 3,000 masks and counting. We distribute them in packages with the help of volunteers, and they also bring new material so we can keep making more,” said Sonia Hornero, one of the women from the group.
The A Contrareloj initiative receives donated material from a nearby shop and the local community, to help keep the mask production lines going.
Martin is now recovered and healthy, but she is still determined to assist in making more masks to protect healthcare workers, police officers, taxi drivers, the elderly and anyone else in need of them.
Alberto Gilsanz and his friend Javier Almazan started a similar initiative in Madrid, but this time they made face mask shield protectors with the help of workers from 15 different companies operating in sectors such as carpentry, design, decoration, glassware, and packaging.
Through their project, Juntos Venceremos COVID-19 (meaning, together we will combat COVID-19), they have donated thousands of the protectors to more than 120 health centers in different cities throughout Spain.
Gilsanz said: “We started this project together with our friends who are in manufacturing. The production is approximately 18,000 masks. The recipients of these masks are all kinds of healthcare workers. It befits them since it is a method that prevents them from possible infection.”
The masks were made at the GEIMU factory in Toledo, 67 km from Madrid, which is owned by Almazan.
“The initial idea was to make 50 or 60 for our friends. Then we made the decision to make 3,000 as a start which we completed in a week, and then another 12,000, and so on. The recipients of these masks are very grateful to receive them, since they are not only protecting them from contagion but also avoiding their faces becoming bruised,” he said.
Sara del Alamo, a nurse at Valdemoro Hospital in Madrid, said: “We are very thankful for all the help we are getting, particularly to them (Juntos Venceremos COVID-19). Thanks to these masks our faces have fewer marks and also they are protecting us a lot.”
Gilsanz and Almazan have now stopped production after running out of materials but also because hospitals have started to receive more PPE from the Spanish government.
After more than a month into the lockdown, declared under Spain’s state of emergency, humanitarian initiatives such as these continue to support supplies of PPE.
