Gowns for Doctors providing PPE for GPs around Victoria
A lack of personal protective equipment in general practices is being combated by two doctors and hundred of volunteers in one regional town.
TWO Bendigo doctors are filling a gap in support for general practices by co-ordinating efforts to make their own personal protective equipment.
Kirby White and Nicole Townsend have rallied local volunteers to sew together reusable gowns for doctors to wear.
The idea came to the pair almost a month ago when they realised how quickly their practice was going through protective gear.
“We ordered 100 gowns that we used in two weeks and recognised we would have to come up with another solution,” Dr Townsend said.
That solution has grown from a handful of volunteers making gowns for their own practice to hundreds of people donating their time, fabric and money in a GoFundMe campaign to help provide more than 60 general practices across Victoria.
Dr Townsend said they were quickly overwhelmed with responses for help, and after they received large donations from the Rural Doctors Association of Victoria and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine they knew they were on to something.
“Now we have a grander plan of providing a supply of gowns to all GPs in regional Victoria,” she said.
“The money in the GoFundMe gives us the ability to commit to purchasing many more metres of fabric.”
They have since started working with a manufacturer in Melbourne as well as a local bridal shop who have seamstresses using their time off work to join the cause.
While Dr Townsend is grateful for the support their initiative has received, she said it felt as though general practitioners were at the bottom of the supply chain and that there was more industry leaders and the Government could be doing.
“For us, although we recognise the lovely news story of the community coming together, we are really frustrated by the lack of support for GPs.
“What we hope is that the Government takes notice of what we’ve done in this short time, and build on that by thinking laterally,” she said.
But in the meantime, the doctors would continue the work they’ve done, welcoming help from whoever can provide it.
“As long as we get funding and as long as there’s still a need we will continue making gowns,” Dr Townsend said.
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