Two UK Cypriots helping the frontline to help protect us
A pair of North London Cypriot entrepreneurs are producing thousands of face masks to be handed out to medical staff and other key workers for free.
Engin Mehmet, who runs the Absolute Print store in Junction Road, Archway N19 with Hak Huseyin, was shocked when his medical student son said that frontline NHS staff were “screaming” for help, with shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) causing chaos across the country.
Mr Mehmet, a self-proclaimed “tinkerer”, realised he could make visors out of the 3D printer he had at his house.He contacted his business partner Mr Huseyin who spread the word round his various contacts and since then the orders have come flooding in.Mr Mehmet, 50, has told us “My son has just started working for the NHS as a health care assistant.
There is a lack of all PPE, to be honest. But these face shields, which help when there is a risk of fluids splashing on the NHS staff, is something I can help with. That’s all I can do to help for now. I wish I could do more.
”Mr Huseyin put the word out to friends in the BNI Chipping business networking group he is part of and they managed to raise £2,500 so that Mr Mehmet could buy a computer numerical control (CNC) router which uses computer code to cut the masks out of a Perspex sheet, and one cutter press plus material.Mr Huseyin said: “I’ve been really blown away by how generous everyone has been. It’s almost had me in tears. We have enough money to buy the new machine and we’re going to fundraise to buy another to produce more. I am just absolutely buzzing, to be honest.
It’s been amazing how everyone has rallied round to help each other.“We’re not going to make any money from this, all the visors are being given away and, at the end, we’re going to auction off the machines and give that cash to charity.”With the help of our volunteers, Marc Weitzman, Mitchell Harris, Fred Ciccone, Michael Hudson and John Antoniou we have made and distributed over 3,600 visors to hospitals including Chase Farm, Paddington, Whittington and also Highgate Hospital.
Furthermore we have delivered to Hatzola Ambulance Service, Five Oaks Care Home, Cypriot Care as well as Boots Opticians, various pharmacies and doctors surgeries. Mr Mehmet added: “We’re also doing a drop at the big bus depot in Archway. The bus drivers, tube drivers and shop workers are on the frontline as well. They need these visors.”Fourteen transport workers have died in London after contracting coronavirus, including Emeka Nyack-Ihenacho, 36, who drove the No 4 bus from Blackfriars to Archway.His mother, Anne, has called for better protection for bus drivers.
To donate to the visor crowdfunder, which has received more than £12,000, go to
https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/absoluteprint
