Crises are always a real test to the extent to which society members are interconnected with each other, and how strongly they stand with their leadership and country. The Covid-19 crisis is no exception. It revealed the solidarity and interdependence of our society, and its keenness on stability and cohesion at such a challenging time.

One of the greatest manifestations for this in our community is the public interest towards volunteering, and the people’s initiatives to provide aid, each from their position and according to their knowledge, experiences and skills. All people stood in the field as one man, each carrying the tool they mastered.

In Al-Rahmah Medical Charitable Society, we have had a prominent role in the voluntary community service. We have worked to raise people’s awareness of the importance of volunteering in times of crisis, whether public volunteering from all members of society or health volunteering by health workers, with reference to previous local and international experiences explaining the role of volunteering in mitigating the effects of crises, and benefiting in this aspect from the Al-Rahmah Society Voluntary Program (30X30), which includes motivating volunteers by documenting voluntary health hours.

We have also published a link on social media to register volunteers working in the health sector to volunteer within health teams working in quarantines, hospitals and rehabilitation centers, whether they are medical practitioners, nurses, interns or public health students.

In one of its initiatives, the Society has also sought to train and qualify field volunteer health teams in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, to intervene in case of need to establish field hospitals or facilities for quarantine. This training includes a protocol of preventive measures to deal with cases of infection and suspected cases, skills of communication and psychological support, first aid and CPR.