What Citizens can do during the COVID-19 Crisis

 

 

The world is currently facing turmoil due to the unexpected pandemic- COVID 19. The frontliners have played a vital role in handling the situation and making life easier for citizens. With this blog I intend to highlight certain measures that every citizen can take for the good, during these testing times.


1.    Check up on elderly people around us
Our recent campaign in Pune has led us to believe that the elderly population is in need of daily essentials like vegetables, groceries, medicines etc. The youth should keep checking up on elderly citizens in our neighbourhood and reach out to them in order to fulfil their requirements. When we step out to buy groceries for ourselves, we can buy necessities for them too. Even after their daily needs are met, I believe we should still keep checking up on them and enquire about their health. This will instill a great amount of confidence in them in these tough times.

2.    Sign Up for group initiatives in helping the healthcare and delivery industry
Our country is in need of volunteers not only in medical field but also responsible citizens who can help the vulnerable sections of the society through group initiatives like delivery of food packages, distribution of meals, helping the frontline workers in multiple ways. A number of NGOs are also working tirelessly to deliver food packets, meals and commodities to people who are in need and also welcoming volunteers to their team. Action for Pune Development has been collaborating with volunteers and presently has over 80 volunteers across Pune city to extend their support for the cause of reaching out to senior citizens.


3.    Awareness and Appraisal
Staying updated with the latest advisories is very important to overcome this pandemic. Advisories are being issued by both the WHO and the Government separately for citizens as well as health care workers. Following and obeying these advisories is important to avoid infecting self with this deadly disease. Citizens are advised to download the “Aarogya Setu” developed by our government for tracking of cases in and around us.
WHO advisory webpage link:-
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Govt Of India:-
https://www.mohfw.gov.in/

You can find all the relevant information to COVID-19 on these webpages.

4.    Do not hoard commodities and stock up in excess
A number of citizens have been over-buying and clearing out the stocks of essentials in shops during the lockdown. Due to this, the remaining citizens are facing a shortage of basic commodities. It would be in the best interest of everyone if citizens only buy required amounts of essentials as this would not only ensure availability of goods for everyone but also help us saving some extra money for unforeseen expenses. 

5.    Conserve resources like water and electricity.
Since we are staying at home and working from home, we should ensure that we use electricity and water sparingly. During summer season there could be a shortage of water and electricity in certain areas. It is our duty to conserve natural resources and only make optimum use of them. Make sure that you switch on lights only where it is needed and do not overuse water while washing hands or cleaning the house.

6.    Take care of stray animals and birds in your vicinity
Provide food and water to stray animals and birds as they are dependent on us to a great extent. All you can do is, place a bowl of water outside your house or in your balcony along with some food grains, bread, biscuits, rotis, etc. This would be greatly helpful.

7.    Avoid Wastage of food and groceries
You can help out your domestic help, if they stay nearby, or any poor people living on the streets with excess food prepared at home. Kindly ensure that you do not waste any extra food and instead provide it to persons who cannot make two ends meet in these testing times. Several NGOs are working to connect people who have excess food leftovers and then make it reach people who are deprived of food.

These are just a few things that we can do on our part during this crisis to make life better for people around us. I would specially encourage the youth to take a step forward and shoulder the responsibility of making a worthwhile contribution for the betterment of everyone.  Being the youth, the future of the country lies in our hands and we essentially need to take special efforts for the greater good.

Join the fight against coronavirus! Stay safe!



Reported by
Radheya Kulkarni

Battling tough times during COVID-19

Since few years, Action for Pune Development (APD) has been working on  various issues such as environmental conservation, education for underprivileged , youth and women empowerment , road safety, etc. The young members of APD have aspirations to make a worthwhile contribution towards social development and are willing to make use of innovative methods for the same.

In times of this global crisis of COVID-19, the members of APD chose to play a role to join the fight against coronavirus. There are various concerns which arose during this situation. Due to the lockdown, business got disrupted, daily wage workers faced a dire situation and daily life came to a standstill.

In this situation, APD decided to focus one  issue which needed immediate action. Pune city has a large elderly population. Many people settle in Pune after retirement it offers a peaceful lifestyle. But now they face an unavoidable issue. While the lockdown is necessary to control the spread of the disease, getting essentials like groceries and medicines has become difficult.

About 30% of the people above age 65 have poor health and insufficient medical care as their primary issue. Thus, making medicines and every-day essentials reach them in the earliest possible time is what APD aimed for. Ultimately, it is the responsibility of the youth to take care of the elderly population.

The method adopted is as follows -

• APD has a team of 80+ volunteers based in various parts throughout the city. 
• Whenever someone needs assistance, they contact the organisation and provide necessary information like name, address and the list of essentials. 
• This information is then shared with the volunteer who resides in the vicinity of the person who has made a request. 
• Every volunteer follows a strict protocol and makes use of personal protection equipment like a mask, sanitizer, and gloves. 
• The volunteer then picks up the required goods from the nearby stores and delivers them to the destination while making  minimum or zero direct contact. 

APD is fortunate to have received an overwhelming support from the Pune Police. This makes sure we can conduct this work without any hurdles. People can volunteer for this task by simply contacting APD through social media, emails, calls etc. and requests for assistance can be made in the same way.

Owing to social media, there has been a wide outreach of this campaign and we are happy to announce that we have been able to help 400+ elderly couples and will continue to do so in the coming days. We would also like to extend gratitude to the frontline covid warriors like doctors, nurses, police, cleaners, government workers, shop owners for working diligently in these trying times and making life safer for the common people.

A humble request to everyone to stay home and stay safe as well as make it safer for the people fighting out there!

Our Corona Warriors:

Reported by
Apurv Deshpande