Tait's Olympic Opening Ceremony hospital beds head to Tunisia

30 July 2012

UK - Tait Technologies provided 320 hospital beds for the National Health Service Swing Out Sisters mass choreography section of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony on the 27th of July, 2012.

London 2012 has a 'zero to landfill' policy for the event and therefore all products are required to be fully recyclable or have a quantifiable after life. Working with Danny Boyle and his designer Mark Tildsley, Tait Technologies designed the beds so that they could be sent to medical facilities in less fortunate countries after the event.

In order to find a suitable placement for the beds, Tait Technologies contacted work colleagues Charlie Hernandez and Lori Tierney from "Just a bunch of Roadies", www.justabunchofroadies.org , a team of men and women that work behind the scenes in the concert touring industry who, in conjunction with Project C.U.R.E, set up a highly efficient response team dedicated to the delivery of medical equipment to Haiti after the earthquake of 2010.

Project C.U.R.E., www.projectcure.org was founded in 1987 to help bridge the staggering health resource gap in the developing world by matching valuable surplus medical supplies and equipment with healthcare facilities in resource limited communities.

After the Opening Ceremony, a team of 15 volunteers will spend three days removing the LED pillows and duvets, batteries and wiring required for the production to turn the beds into functioning hospital beds. These beds will then be delivered to Hospital Habis Burguiba De Medenine and Hospital de Taouine in Tunisia. A total of eight 40ft containers will be required to ship the 320 beds and mattresses. Rock It Cargo, Delta Way, Egham, Surrey have generously covered all freight costs for the shipment. Rock It Cargo, www.rockitcargo.com is a Los Angles-based speciality freight forwarding company specialising in the entrainment and live events.

For in-depth coverage of the production behind the Opening Ceremony, be sure to check out the August/September issue of LSi - out soon!

(Claire Beeson)