The student-driven initiative, We Fight Back COVID, has started numerous projects in response to the unique challenges that the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown have presented in Tygerberg hospital.
We Fight Back COVID now has over 400 volunteers, says Casey Clarke, one of the head executives for the initiative. PHOTO CREDIT: We Fight Back COVID
These student-led projects include making masks (Masking It), 3D printing face shields (Victories Visors), educating the community about Covid-19 (Corona Curriculum), collecting plastic bottles to recycle for use in the hospital (Spacers for Hope) and caring for new mothers who are forced to remain in the hospital during the lockdown (Ward Warriors).
“Moms sometimes spend weeks in a ward with their premature babies. Now, due to lockdown, [they] can’t even move out or receive visitors,” said dr Elmarie Malek, facilitator for the Ward Warriors project. Student-involvement means a lot to people who cannot leave the hospital, she said.
One of the projects run by We Fight Back COVID is the 3D printing of visors to protect health care workers in the hospital. PHOTO CREDIT: We Fight Back COVID
We Fight Back COVID began when three Stellenbosch University medical science students volunteered at Tygerberg Hospital during the lockdown, said Luné Smith, a fifth year student who helped start the initiative. The students began brainstorming ways they could help doctors who work in the hospital, Smith said.
“Doctors were seeing needs in the hospital as they worked and they brought the needs to us and asked us to find solutions,” said Smith.
We Fight Back COVID is a student-driven initiative where volunteers help Tygerberg Hospital address the challenges the pandemic has created. CREDIT: We Fight Back COVID
While We Fight Back COVID is student-run, the initiative is supported and advised by Tygerberg Hospital and SU staff, said Casey Clarke, one of the head executives for the initiative and a final year occupational therapy student.
Doctors’ advice and support are vital, said Clarke, adding that the Tygerberg Hospital staff have also been very supportive of their initiative.
CREDIT: Sarah Hoek