Coronavirus in Belgium: Urgent call for protective equipment donations to nursing homes in Brussels

Citizens and companies are being asked to donate face masks and other personal protective equipment to nursing homes in Brussels.

The appeal has been launched by Brussels consultancy StP Communications to help alleviate the shortage of equipment in residential homes struggling to contain an increasing number of Covid-19 cases.

Equipment can include any form of protective clothing, ranging from home-made face masks and disposable gloves, to aprons, gowns and face visors. It is being distributed to the homes most in need via the city’s coronavirus hub hospital CHU Saint-Pierre.

The communications consultancy’s managing director Stavros Papagianneas is personally picking up equipment in and around Brussels and taking it to the city-centre hospital.

He was motivated to take action after hearing about the shortage of personal protection. “I have friends who are doctors and they said that there was an urgent lack of materials in nursing homes in Brussels,” he says.

“They said that it does not have to be medical equipment; it can be hand-made masks and generally a little bit of anything that can be used as protective clothing. We are also asking companies to see if they have anything in their stocks that they will not use in the next two months,” added Papagianneas.

In an additional bid “to contribute something to society”, the agency is offering its expertise in media and crisis relations. “We can provide a free communications service for hospitals, NGOs or social organisations that don’t have the budget or don’t have the time,” he says.

StP Communications can be contacted at 0477.29.61.30 or via email sp@stpcommunications.com