The coronavirus pandemic has sparked a surge of gratitude for frontline medical staff around the world, prompting one local group to spring into action in support of our nurses.
Hearing that nursing staff at Rosebud Hospital needed more scrubs, volunteers from Mt Martha's Boomerang Bags group decided to do something about it.
It was a big challenge for the group's 10 members, said coordinator Robyn Ruhl.
"We normally make fabric shopping bags to help people reduce their use of plastic bags and we're proud to have made 3300 so far," Robyn said. "Making scrubs is a far more ambitious project but we really wanted to support our nurses."
"The Shire was very generous and donated a lot of fabric to kick-start our efforts. Word then got out and we've since had fabulous materials given to us by the public."
Robyn said the biggest challenge had been getting hold of patterns: "because of the pandemic, patterns for scrubs are hard to find. They're getting sold out and if we try to order them online, we can only get one."
The need to stay physically distant was another challenge for the group. Instead of sewing together at Mt Martha House Community Centre as they had been doing, each member is working on the scrubs in their own home.
They have also had to create a system of safe hygiene practices for the transport and delivery of materials to the homes of volunteers.
So far, the group has made 30 scrubs in an array of colourful patterns for nurses at Rosebud Hospital. News has spread and the group was recently contacted by a nurse at Frankston Hospital with a view to supporting its staff as well.
Robyn said it had been an extremely busy and demanding time for the group but also a rewarding one.
"It's easy to get blue thinking about how terrible this pandemic is, but if you have a purpose and can focus on doing something positive it really can help you get through it."
Photo: Rosebud Hospital nurse Megan Scott models the new scrubs.
