THIS week’s winner of Person of the Week has gone above and beyond to protect NHS staff.

Engineer Stephen McEvoy, 29, has been nominated for ‘stepping up to the plate in a time of crisis’.

He has been putting his 3-D printer to good use by making the visors, which have proved popular with care homes and GP surgeries in Furness.

The Sellafield engineer, who lives in Ulverston, has already delivered the first batches of the face shields to two medical practices.

“I’ve seen the current situation developing over the last few weeks, including how poor the supply of protective equipment is to those who are working closely with patients," he said.

“I’m an engineer, with a real interest in innovation and novel ways to solve problems, so when I saw designs coming in from all over the world for lightweight, simple visors, I jumped at the chance.

“I started making for a nationwide scheme to supply the NHS.

“It’s a great scheme but is taking time to get through all the red tape in the NHS supply chain.

“I decided to put a post on Facebook offering them in the area, to get them where they’re needed sooner, and the response has been staggering.

“I’ve had great support from the public, donating for material costs, and Lancaster University and Pure Leisure in particular have given us donations to really speed up production.

“My partner Lauren Emery took on the role of coordinating requests, donations and so on, allowing me to focus on recruiting as many other printer owners in the area and optimising how quickly each printer can produce a visor.

“Lauren is also now involved with printing as we can take it in turns to get up through the night to keep it going.

"So far we’ve made 100, with orders for 700 more and counting.

“We have had donations of £1,700 which is purchasing printing supplies and clear material for the visor shields for us and the other printers which are getting set up.

“By Monday I plan to have the Furness area producing 100 per day.

“We couldn’t do this without the help of the great people who live around here.”

If you would like to put forward a special person then please get in touch.

You can email our reporter at erin.gaskell@newsquest.co.uk with your details.