APRONS FOR OUR HEALTHCARE HEROES • Rotterdam. Make it Happen.

It started with an emergency call from a GP to lingerie designer Fabienne Hansoul. ‘We are so short on protective aprons that I’m stapling garbage bags together to wear. Is there anything you can do?’ Fabienne made a simple design and called around for help. Marjolein Peeters became involved through their mutual friend, independent consultant Aldo de Jong. She’s an event manager at the municipality of Rotterdam and sewing is her hobby. ‘We made twenty aprons that first weekend. But to produce more, we needed more sewers.’ That is how sewingheroes.com (Naaihelden) was created.

You would think: You put an apron in the wash and put it back on. What’s the problem?

‘Healthcare providers in general practitioner posts, home care and nursing homes wear disposable aprons. Because there are now many more infectiously ill people, they are using more than usual. As a result, they have become scarce, and it will probably take a while before new ones arrive. We carefully took stock of what they need now. That is fabric aprons of 100% cotton, washable at 60 degrees and easy to reuse. We started working on that.

You and Fabienne didn’t know each other until recently.

‘No. And due to the circumstances, we have not yet met live. But we have good contact. We Skype a lot! Fabienne is a humanitarian and very passionate. It’s great to see how we are strong together, each with our own talents. Fabienne is the designer and director of the sewers, I’m the event manager for the organisation and do the communication. The first instructions went to the seamstresses with a photo and manual. Our website was ready within a week.’

How do you publicise your initiative?

‘Lots of calls! To healthcare institutions in Rotterdam and the surrounding area to let them know that we can make aprons for them. To schools with fashion courses, such as Albeda College and Willem de Kooning, to recruit sewers. To manufacturers to get fabric. And by posting a lot on Facebook and Instagram and other media. We intend to start a movement.’

What kind of movement?

‘A feel-good movement: Join in! Look at each other! Help each other! Do your bit! A movement that spreads across the country like an oil slick. We want volunteers all over the country to call healthcare institutions in their area to ask how many aprons are acutely needed. And then make them and deliver them directly. It would be great if it works. Because we know for sure that there is an urgent demand for aprons: The requests are rolling in.’

How many people are sewing now?

‘We have 25 volunteers, and people are joining every day. We have a network of friends who sew as a hobby and who also know people. So far, we have made about fifty aprons. But many more are needed. How many I dare not say. But during the parliamentary debate on the shortages in healthcare on 8 April, the shortage of aprons was also mentioned. The need is high.’

How do you get fabric?

‘We ordered fabric for the first delivery. Now we’re looking for a way to do it more sustainably. For example, I approached manufacturers of duvet covers. And people also help spontaneously. Recently we received a box full of duvet covers from a woman who’d collected in her neighbourhood. Heart-warming.’

Have you also registered this initiative with the National Resources Consortium?

‘No. We are not a company that can produce aprons on a large scale. We are volunteers who want to do our bit to help our care heroes. There is now an acute emergency and we are responding to it. People in healthcare can’t be expected to wear garbage bags. We hope that in a few weeks there will be plenty of disposable aprons again via the coordination centre. Then we’ll stop sewing and look back on a bizarre rollercoaster ride.’

Tekst door: Esther Wienese
Foto credits: Sewing Heroes