Helping Dress Medics: WellChild scrubs for families thanks to His Dark Materials costume team

When BBC drama, His Dark Materials had to halt production due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the show’s costume designers decided to put their talents and spare time to good use. The team started creating scrubs when they learnt of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) shortage within the NHS and the care sector. Helping Dress Medics was born and has received nationwide support. Off the back of this success, the team have now created WellChild branded scrubs for families caring for seriously ill children, enabling them to safely allow external carers into their homes.

One parent carer who has benefited from the Helping Dress Medics campaign is WellChild Director of Programmes, Tara Parker, a former children’s nurse who also cares for her 20 year old daughter Abigail. Tara returned to the NHS front line when the outbreak began. At the same time she set up the WellChild COVID-19 Direct Response Service which has sourced, and is distributing more than 76,000 items of PPE such as gloves, aprons and face masks to families across the UK.

Tara said: “Families caring for a child with serious and complex medical needs are totally reliant on external carers coming into their home. For that to happen, carers need to have the right PPE. Sadly many are simply not getting it. We are hearing from many families who have had to stop carers coming into their home. This is placing immense and unsustainable pressure on families to pick up the round-the-clock care responsibility. Thanks to donations like this from the brilliant Helping Dress Medics team, we can give families the equipment they need to ensure their children can get the vital care they need at this critical time.”

The WellChild scrubs created by the costume crew from His Dark Materials will be distributed to families providing care for a seriously ill child at home. Having this vital PPE enables many families to safely allow external carers into their homes.

Hundreds of families have already benefited from PPE distributed by the WellChild COVID-19 Direct Response Service. One family who has benefited is Helen’s family. Helen, who cares for her son Sam said: “40 mask, aprons, gloves. Enough PPE for our tiny team of helpers for months to come. Hopefully, come June, when my son feels ready, I may be able to once again welcome trusted employees back into Sam’s environment, safe in the knowledge that, thanks to the fast, generous actions of WellChild, his vulnerability is not compromised and both he, I and our employees continue to stay safe.  Thank you so very much for all you have, and continue, to do.”

So far our team has received over 420 urgent requests for PPE, with the number growing every day. With the support of companies and groups such as the His Dark Materials costume team, WellChild can continue to support even more families and meet this sudden and urgent surge in demand.

If you are a family caring for a seriously ill child and need help accessing PPE, visit www.wellchild.org.uk/direct-response.