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Dimapur, May 28 (EMN): As Covid-19 continues to rage, breaking families and causing immeasurable suffering across the globe, a group of young volunteers based in various parts of the world have come together under the banner ‘Help Nagaland Breathe’ to help fight the pandemic by bringing in medical supplies to the state, knowing well that ‘health infrastructure that the public has is not the best’.
The Digital Communications team from the Help Nagaland Breathe shared with Eastern Mirror that that they had been planning to start the ‘fundraiser campaign’ for few weeks before they finally launched it officially on May 20, 2021.
“It initially started off with a few friends brainstorming together to ship a few medical supplies,” they said.
They informed that before starting the distribution of medical supplies in the state, they began with needs assessment. They called up district hospitals, spoke to frontline workers, medical doctors, government officials, administrators in rural and urban areas. And they realised that the needs were much higher than they thought.
“One shipment of medical supplies was not going to be enough. We saw that the government, international organisations, communities, churches, and individuals were doing a lot. So we came together to use our networks to do the little that we can,” they said.
They shared that usually patients fly to other cities for health concerns but during this pandemic, they have to rely on the existing public health infrastructure within Nagaland. Sensing this urgency, ‘Help Nagaland Breathe’ campaign was initiated to provide relief support to public health infrastructure in the state to fight the pandemic, they added.
The team informed that the voluntary campaign today has more than 30 volunteers based in India, USA, Ireland, Singapore, UK and Spain, and they are currently assigned in different working groups: Fundraising, supply chain management, procurement, finance and legal, needs assessment, on ground logistics and digital communications.
“We have the support of local non-profits to help with financial management and on ground logistics too. As we begin the distribution, we will be working closely with the non-profits as well as the local government and other agencies, to ensure that the supplies go to the villages and towns that need the most,” they informed.
Speaking about their upcoming plans, they shared that they would continue to reach out to aid agencies, donors for support, and also work on spreading the Milaap fundraiser to networks around the world.
“We are working on a database to get a sense of the supplies available in Covid Care Centres and hospitals in Nagaland to ensure distribution is equitable, transparent and the right impact is made. We hope to work with organisations with similar vision, and provide the medical supplies on time,” they stated.
‘Our procurement and distribution will all be in the website so we ensure people that our campaign is a genuine one and we are doing this because we want to help our people and we want to reach out to the families and people that have been affected by Covid, and we do not know how much we can contribute but we want to give our best and we hope good things will happen,’ they said.
They also informed that if anyone wants to help, they can reach out to them through their Instagram (@helpnagalandbreathe), twitter (@helpnagaland) and Facebook. There is a ‘volunteer with us’ link on the website and they can email us at helpnagalandbreathe@gmail.com, they added.
Further, they appeal to the citizens to stay home, read the basic guidelines on how to protect from Covid-19.
‘If you are experiencing any symptoms, get yourself tested immediately and if you have been tested positive, self isolate at home or at any of the government established Covid Care Centres as per instructions,’ they appealed.
‘If you are asked to home isolate, follow all instructions. Let us all co-operate with the guidelines provided- every action counts. To sail through this pandemic, we have to trust each other, co-operate and support,’ they added.