I don’t remember when I’ve been focused on sustainability. Maybe it started around the time of the Pandemic when I started making reuseable cloth facemasks. It really bothered me to see so many disposable blue face coverings littered carelessly on the sidewalks and footpaths around the hospital.

I recently attended the CAI Annual Congress of Anaesthesia and the Sustainability Session was one I attended with interest. Three very relevant  topics in our current world:

• Sustainable Anaesthesia

•Planning the Irish Green Theatre 

• Human Healthcare and the Ocean

Listening to these speakers and the Q & A following  the session has made me even more passionate and speaking out about sustainability and the impactnto our planet’s ecosystem.

When I look around in the perioperative setting, we generate a lot of healthcare related waste from packaging to single-use items.
In particular, the blue disposable head coverings worn in the operating theatres

I did a quick calculation on the number of operating theatre staff – nurses, doctors, support staff, technicians and med & nursing students who cross that red line you know the one, that says Surgical Attire Only Beyond This Point. 

For example,  a general surgery operating theatre staffed with a minimum of:
4 perioperative nurses,
1 anaesthetic nurse
1 Consultant Anaesthesiologist
1 Anaesthetic Registrar
1 HealthCare Aid
1 Consultant Surgeon
2 Surgical Registrars
1 Surgical SHO
2 students on their surgical rotation

That is 14 people wearing disposable hats and multiply that by say , 10 Operating Theatres. That sum is 140 per day. Elective surgery lists are 5 days a week which brings our total up to 700 single use theatre hats per week that may end up in landfill.

Single use hats are made from viscose,  manufactured from tree pulp. It is estimated that 120million trees are cut down each year for viscose production, deforesting woodland and therefore potentially degrading local ecosystems and adding to climate change.

Viscose is produced when wood chips from the trees are pulped in a process requiring steam and chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and bleach (chlorine) This process is toxic and produces water waste.

I applaud the Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who published their case study in 2022,  whereby they tackled excess waste by switching to re-useable theatre caps.

I make my own theatre hats, which is my miniscule contribution to “saving the planet”.

I also sell 100% cotton theatre caps, mainly to my loyal and regular customers all over Ireland, using the tagline,  Life is too short to wear boring scrubhats.

It’s time for me to elaborate and advocate for reuseable cloth scrub hats.

Things you need to know about the me and my  VillaMaker ScrubHats:

• The fabric I use is 100% cotton.

• I support Irish by purchasing my fabric from shops and businesses based in Ireland.

• I contribute to reducing excess fabric and textiles by purchasing from many individuals who have “re-homing sales” to sell off their stashed fabric.

• I only use quality sewing thread
(Gutterman)

• My hats are made in the VillaMaker Studio (a spare bedroom in our home in Crumlin)

• my pricing reflects my time and labour to making each hat

Some of my healthcare colleagues have sited and bought from  Temu because the price is cheap. As a Maker, I detest the likes of Temu and Shein. But that’s a discussion for another day.

At the moment, I really don’t push my sales because  it would take huge amounts of my  time and energy to make my way to the top of the algorithms on the social media platforms.

I’d rather be sewing and selling for my loyal customer base who appreciate not only the quality of what I make, but those who are ethically and sustainably like myself.

Please share my website and social media to like minded people.





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