Students provide free childcare to healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Sruthi Shankar and Sara Lederman, medical students at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities School of Medicine, knew that a lot of healthcare professionals, working hard to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, where worried about care for their children after schools were closed.

Since their University also decided to cancel all their onsite classes and clinical rotations, the two students saw an opportunity to make a diference. "As a medical student, it can be hard to feel so removed from everything that's going on in the world. One of the things that I hear my medical school peers ask a lot is 'how can I help?' With the COVID-19 outbreak, that question felt not only more relevant, but more urgent. And not only does it take a village, but it takes a brilliant, humble, determined village.", Sara Lederman, explained.

Together, they started the MN CovidSItter, a platform that offers free childcare to healthcare professional by pairing them with students willing to volunteer. They also provide grocery shopping, meal prepping, light housekeeping errands and pharmacy runs. To ensure safety, each volunteer is matched to a single family in their area of residence.

The team is now helping other student associations that want to launch similar initiatives in other parts of the world.

Minnesota CovidSitters - https://www.mncovidsitters.org
Houston CovidSitters - https://www.htxcovidsitters.org/
Maine CovidSitters - https://www.mecovidsitters.org/
Milwaukee - http://www.milwcovidsitter.com/
Washington DC - http://www.dccovidsitters.com/
New Jersey - https://www.njmscovidteam.org/our-team

Adapted from: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/18/us/minnesota-students-babysitting-hea...