Making a difference during the COVID-19 crisis

Liverpool John Moores University is focusing on our values of community and togetherness as we make our way through the COVID-19 crisis.

We have a shared history with the city of Liverpool which is built on working hard, caring about supporting people and communities and being active ‘citizens’ in our society. Making a difference is what a university should be about. It is what we are about.

We are proud therefore that our staff, students and alumni are making contributions, large and small, to improve lives, raise spirits and be positive in these difficult circumstances.

Here are a few examples of some of the things we are doing:

• Our final-year Nursing and other Allied Health students and members of staff, led by Professor Raphaela Kane, are helping, often on the frontline, in hospitals and health centres across the region
• Academic and technical staff in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology are 3D printing life-saving face shields for the NHS. Our ‘print farm' at Byrom Street, employs 12 printers, and the first batch of equipment has already been made to Liverpool Royal, Aintree and Broadgreen hospitals
• Colleagues in the Faculty of Health donated a vanload of personal protective equipment, including medical gloves, aprons, hand sanitiser, hand wash, sanitary wipes, examination gowns, disinfection wipes and sterile dressing aids for Whiston Hospital, Knowsley
• Student teachers from the School of Education are continuing to support their placement schools and their pupils in a variety of ways. Some are on school rotas, ensuring that schools can remain open for vulnerable children and those who have key worker parents. Others are helping their classes by providing online teaching opportunities and marking the work which their pupils are doing at home
• Staff across our nine campus catering outlets donated a substantial quantity of fresh and perishable food and drink items to donate to our friends at the Whitechapel Centre, a homeless/housing charity for the Liverpool City Region. The food has been provided to people sleeping rough. David Roper, volunteer manager at the Whitechapel Centre, said: "Thanks for your continued support! It's made a massive difference to us and our service users."
• Fashion learning support officer Cathy Reilly is coordinating efforts in the city to make doctors and nurses protective uniforms (‘scrubs’) for the NHS. Her connections as a TV costume-maker linked her up with the national ‘scrubs army’ led by the costume team at His Dark Materials
• The Faculty of Engineering and Technology's SUD Project is monitoring changes in traffic under the lockdown on behalf of local councils, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority and the Department for Transport. This team led by Dr Trung Thanh Nguyen is also due to report on air quality and weather data
• We are also in regular contact with key city region leaders, such as the Metro Mayor’s teams and Liverpool City Council, to work alongside them during their ongoing response to the crisis

We’re proud to be playing a small part in the huge national effort to help defeat COVID-19 and continue to look for other ways in which we can help.