Coronacare.life Launched
Bengaluru: Fear and loneliness are the worst enemies of a human being in the moment of crisis. If we have a way to overcome fear and loneliness, a human being would most likely overcome crises situations of life, said Fr George Kannanthanam. This is the rationale to set up coronacare.life as more and more people across the globe are getting infected or affected by Corona Virus – COVID 19, he added.
Fr Kannanthanam, Director, the Project Vision elaborated on the launch saying an online facility for anyone who is stressed about Corona Virus to talk to someone, was launched at the campus of the Catholic Health Association of India (CHAI) in Hyderabad on February 26. Responding to the increasing number of persons affected by the disease, the platform ‘coronacare.life’ was launched by Dr Sr Victoria along with Rev. Dr Mathew Abraham, the Président and the Director-General of CHAI.
What began as a local outbreak of influenza type attack on a group of people reported first on December 31, 2019, in Wuhan, China, has till today. February 27, affected 82,000 people and has taken the lives of 2800 plus people, spread across 35 countries. Every day the numbers are on the rise. With every continent, except Antarctica, affected and more cases in Europe and the Middle East, World Health Organisation which had declared it a global health emergency, is planning to upgrade it to the level of a pandemic. For the first time since its outbreak, there were more cases reported from outside China on February 26, signifying the growing global impact.
While every global agency is working overtime to find a solution to the Corona Virus disaster, there is no single agency or country that has all solutions. The situation calls for creative interventions from various non-governmental agencies, having access to the people, especially in the field of psycho social support. Billion Lives, a tech company with social passions based in Bangalore, India, headed by John Santhosh, spearheaded the initiative by developing the necessary platform and tech solutions. People encouraged to go to the site for live chats, audio and video calls, apart from communicating through mails.
Project Vision, a Claretian social mission, based also in Bangalore coordinated with various national networks in India to bring together the required professionals who were willing to provide voluntary services. Sister Doctors’ Forum of India (SDFI) and Kerala Association of Professional Social Workers (KAPS) provided the required expert volunteers. Rajagiri Hospital specialists Dr Jacob and Dr Neethu along with Dr Sally John from MGIMS, Wardha, Maharashtra, trained the volunteers. All this background work was coordinated within ten days’ time, as Billion Lives worked on developing the platform.
Fr Jojo cmf, working in Claretian Publications in Macau, China, kept inspiring the people concerned in India with the information on the great need for such a forum for the huge numbers who are quarantined within China. Fr Jijo also organised to get volunteers who could speak Chinese, both Mandarin and Cantonese. Project Vision managed to get volunteers who could communicate in German, French, Spanish and Italian, along with most languages in India.
The site www.coronacare.life is active and accessible. There are about 30 professionals from social work and psychology background ready to take the calls. Doctors are ready to answer medical queries. People might just want to get information or they want to share their worry and concerns or they are affected in some way such as being quarantined and so they want to openly speak with someone.
More partners and volunteers are expected to join the group. This platform can also be used for other emergencies if and when required, said Fr George Kannanthanam who is active in several social activities in different locations, though based in Bangalore.