A Co Down company is going the extra mile for frontline health workers during the coronavirus crisis.
Family joinery business Dougan Contracts has swapped shop-fits for face shields to help in the fight against Covid-19.
The Bangor firm is helping protect key frontline healthcare workers by diversifying its production lines to make and donate crucial personal protection equipment (PPE) for free.
The shields are manufactured remotely by their team of collaborators from within their own workforce.
Dougan Contracts have also joined forces with other local businesses who can help deliver the equipment to frontline workers who need it most.
Company Director Ryan Dougan said: “Our normal day to day trade includes producing bespoke shop fits and kitchens across Northern Ireland.
"Like many other businesses in this challenging time, we have had to stop production. It just feels wrong doing nothing when we can see just how hard healthcare providers are stretched at the moment, so I felt we needed to help in whatever way we could.
“We thought why not use the skills we have in house to help? We’ve teamed up with local firm AG Electrical and together have invested £20,000 of our own money into developing the production line for the new equipment and expanding our distribution network thanks to AG Electrical.”
The firm is already in the process of producing 1,000 face shields, with orders coming into their Facebook page set up only last week.
The company hopes to increase production week on week, but this will be reliant on donations of required materials.
“We’ve put up the initial cost to start production but as we are delivering and creating these for free, we urgently need a steady supply chain of materials donated to help keep manufacturing flowing," Ryan added.
