St. John’s kitchen donations

St. John’s College kitchens have delivered 100 chocolate brownies to both Orchard Care Home in Sawston last Friday (24/04) and Great Shelford Care Home this Wednesday (29/04).

The care homes were not charged for the deliveries.

College Catering Manager, Bill Brogan, said that care homes do an “amazing job” and the College wanted to do “something for the community” during the current lockdown. Brogan intends that “when all this is over we will ask some of the staff from these venues to come in for afternoon tea”.

The College kitchen is still providing take away food for remaining students, Fellows, and staff.

Alongside baked goods, the kitchen has also contributed to the Covid-19 community response by donating old uniforms to a local sewer, who will use them to make face masks.

Cambridge nurse helped by electric bike company 

A Cambridge nurse, Melissa Pardillo, whose electric bike was stolen, has been helped by Electric Bike Sales.

Pardillo explained in a Facebook post that she had parked her £1,300 Volt Metro LS bike at the Grand Arcade, “with a D-lock, a rear-wheel lock, and an e-lock”. 

Whilst she was gone her bike was stolen, as well as the concrete post which it had been locked to.

Hearing her story, Electric Bike Sales, which has a shop in Cambridge, provided her with a new e-bike – a Batribike Diamond Pro – until her stolen one could be replaced.

“It feels like I belong in a good community. It’s very nice to know there are people who want to help,” Pardillo explained. 

Director of Electric Bike Sales, Eddie Kehoe, said they “were delighted to be able to help a local key worker.”

“We’re all lucky to have such wonderful people taking care of us during the pandemic”.

May Ball refunds donated to charity 

The Big May Ball Appeal for Coronavirus, which is described as a “refundraising” initiative, has raised in excess of £22,000 for the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and Addenbrooke’s Hospital. 

When issuing students with refunds for May Ball tickets, organisers have provided information about the Appeal and how they can help. 

One of the organisers, Jade Charles, explained that it is a “simple idea to raise a lot of money, given that it’s money that’s already been spent.” 

Zehn Mahmood, another organiser, said that the reception to the appeal “shows that Cambridge students do care and they’re willing to part with their cash, particularly in this hard time”.

Cambridge community workshop makes 5,000 plastic visors for NHS

Makespace, a community “inventing shed” in Cambridge, has made over 5,000 visors for the NHS. 

80 volunteers helped to make the Personal Protective Equipment, which has been delivered to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, as well as GP Surgeries and care homes. 

Makespace decided to make the items as PPE supply shortages has created a “need for supplementing standard procurement channels.”

The workshop has also produced around 50,000 mask clips. Makespace explained that as “Healthcare workers are now having to wear surgical masks for long periods, and the tension from their elastic can cause ear pain”. 

Mask clips keep elastic away from ears, to make masks more comfortable to wear. 

Wolfson students working to improve Coronavirus testing at Addenbrooke’s

David Cordova Jimenez and Fathima Nisha Begum Samad, both MPhil students at Wolfson College, have been helping to improve the efficiency of Coronavirus testing for employees at Addenbrooke’s Hospital. 

The students both study Industrial Systems Manufacture and Management and, along with Dr Florian Urmetzer, their Course Director, realised that their skills could benefit the hospital. 

Addenbrooke’s have set up a system of drive-through testing, in order to determine whether care staff should continue to isolate or if they can go back to work. 

The pair spent a number of days interviewing those involved with the drive-through test centre at Addenbrooke’s. Following their observations, the students made several recommendations to the hospital. 

“We looked at the layout of the testing and we could see that not only were people confused about where they should go, but there were issues of cross-infection,” David and Nisha commented.

“We suggested they improve the signage and introduce a new entrance gate and waiting area so that people can go in and out more quickly and avoid intermingling”.