Written by Spandana Veeravalli (Medicine, Class of 2023)
At a time when not much could be done by medical students to contribute to community health, except staying at home and following social distancing measures, three of our peers created a way for all of us to stand in support of our colleagues, teachers and mentors in the healthcare professionals community. Led by incoming second-year medical students Zoe O’Neill, Laura Pinkham, Anne Xuan-Lan Nguyen and doctoral student Adam Donovan, the Montreal branch of the COVID-19 Student Support Initiative (CSSI) helped assist healthcare workers in their daily life during the pandemic when work demands were higher than ever.
CSSI drew its roots from Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine, and was launched by our colleagues shortly thereafter in Quebec, within days after the declaration of a state of emergency by province officials in the fourth week of March. At the time, the fast-progressing crisis caused by the pandemic had placed increased pressure on health professionals to step into action, leading to a substantial amount of stress for them. Adding to their list of stressors were the reduced opening hours of grocery stores, and the difficulty finding daycare services that could provide care for their children while also accommodating their irregular shift schedules . Although little could be done about the increased work demands, basic needs such as grocery shopping, pharmacy shopping, child care and pet care could be handled by external help. Accommodating the desire of a growing number of medical students to help bring some relief in these aspects of healthcare workers' lives, CSSI emerged.
For the first few months of the pandemic, CSSI worked relentlessly to pair interested student volunteers from healthcare programs to health professionals on the island of Montreal. The team showed commendable teamwork and organization in launching this initiative so promptly. While Adamo worked on generating a form through which volunteers and health professionals alike could sign up to give or receive help, Zoe and Laura handled the pairing of each health professional to one student, and Anne established partnerships in the community that helped the project grow. Indeed, they managed to gain the support of organizations such as the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) Bridge Program, McGill’s My Media Creative (for the creation of their logo) and Dole Canada (who contributed food and monetary donations to this initiative).
Created with the intention of providing immediate respite to healthcare professionals at a time of critical need, the endeavour saw its demand decreasing with the loosening of quarantine restrictions and the reopening of stores and centres providing various services. Consequently, the CSSI team recently chose to suspend their activities. Nonetheless, this project made a big difference when it mattered the most. In fact, throughout the months when it was active, the initiative garnered a great deal of positive feedback in the form of thank you emails and appreciative comments. Both student volunteers providing the help and healthcare workers receiving the help were equally thankful. Students were very happy to be of some help, and health professionals were grateful to receive support through their struggles to find a balance between their clinical duties and their personal lives.
While this endeavour is no more, it remains a memorable example of solidarity amongst the healthcare community at a time of crisis.
Memorable moment from the initiative:
“I vividly remember our first team Zoom call – there was so much excitement and energy about coordinating this service that we thought was so important and needed at the time. Each member of our team brought a different skillset to the table and it was amazing to see what we would accomplish over Zoom. We also received so many messages of appreciation from healthcare professionals who expressed so much thanks for the support that students were providing. I think the initiative created a sense of [camaraderie] amongst healthcare professionals and healthcare professional students that was really needed at a time when there was so much uncertainty.”
~Zoe O’Neill from the organizing team of CSSI
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