An important thread on #COVID19, #PPE, and what I and my not-for-profit ayeMail are going to do to help.

This is for everybody.

Over the past few weeks I've been horrified by stories of the lack of PPE in the NHS, care homes, and for home carers.

I'm equally horrified by the sky-rocketing prices of essential life-saving equipment, with many companies cashing in.

So I decided to do something about it.

I got together with a couple of friends, and we've spent the last two weeks scouring manufacturers and wholesalers to source (relatively) affordable PPE including face masks, visors and gloves.

The situation is pretty grim, with suppliers worldwide *massively* hiking prices.

The as-yet unreported looming crisis is with Nitrile gloves, the prices of which are TEN times what they were just a few weeks ago. A box of 100 disposable gloves which used to cost £1.50 now costs £15.

We've been working to secure PPE supplies for home carers in particular, as they seem to be a forgotten group.

We now have disposable masks available on our website, and will start shipping them out this weekend. Nitrile gloves will follow in a few days. https://ayemail.scot/store-2/covid-ppe/

There are other supplies that are becoming increasingly difficult to find at reasonable prices - antibacterial wipes, for example. As we locate suppliers for these we will add them to the PPE section on our site.

We're going do this as cost-efficiently as possible, because people need help. Even though the number of #COVID19 cases are reducing, as we start to ease lockdown people will need to continue to take precautions.

We don't want anybody to die because they couldn't afford a mask.

ayeMail is still a not-for-profit, and we're still keen as mustard to campaign for constitutional change - but right now the most useful thing we can be doing is using our procurement and distribution skills to help with the #COVID19 crisis.

If you're having trouble getting particular #PPE items, let us know and we'll do our best to find a solution for you.

Thanks, and stay safe.