New Project Aims to Get Volunteers in Prague

Praguevoluntereeing.cz is a new project that aims to collect volunteers and maximize the number of skills and talents, to help those in need during these trying times.

The project is run mainly by foreign medical students in Prague.

“I started this initiative as a branch from my job as coordinator of the English Curriculum (EC) volunteers at the Third Faculty of Medicine in Prague. The website was initially a project to consolidate the applications of our students. Later, I realized that our student base was, though large, very limited in their potential scope as they have many other responsibilities. Therefore I decided to move away from a solely student-focused organization and branch out on my own and open applications from the public,” said the Head Coordinator Vitaly Fetissov.

The website’s main goal is to collect as many volunteers as possible and provide them with opportunities that fit their skills. At the moment, the best way one can help is by either the collection of materials for masks or sewing masks themselves.

At the same time, students are gathering epidemiological and social data about the efficacy of different social programs eg. facemasks for all, social distancing, quarantine measures, and the like in different countries.

Their hope is to eventually consolidate this information and find the most effective strategies of prevention and containment, and with help from our Czech colleagues, provide these to the official representatives in the government.

“One of the projects still in development is a multilingual helpline open to the public, staffed by our medical students, which would provide necessary and accurate information on the current situation in the Czech Republic, guidelines on prevention, and other general information having to do with this crisis,” added Vitaly.

Praguevolunteering.cz team currently consists of six people: Vašek Melenovsky as co-coordinator and liaison between the project and the Czech students, Daniel Johnsen as helpline coordinator, Tina Moshtagh as a clinical coordinator, Hanna Khalid as coordinator responsible for masks, and Abhilasha Thapa as a research coordinator.

“Right now we are distributing individuals based on their qualifications and experience but the most important aspect is, like I said, the sourcing of materials and sewing of masks. Besides this, we have positions available in research collection/consolidation, and above all else, we are looking for new ideas and people willing to take responsibility for the coordination of new projects.

You can get in touch with Praguevolunteering.cz through the website or through the email [email protected]