Students help risk groups during corona crisis
As the situation worsens around COVID-19, risk groups are recommended to stay home in order to reduce the risk of becoming infected and, additionally, prevent the spreading of the infection at large. During these times, innovative solutions from civil society are required. By harnessing the power of civil society, Trygga H盲nder 鈥 meaning 鈥淪afe hands鈥 鈥 offers a home delivery service for necessary goods, like groceries and pharmacy products, carried out by volunteers.
鈥淲e ourselves felt a need to help the risk groups but did not know how to reach out to them safely. There were a number of Facebook groups that used similar concepts, but without verifying the volunteers. We wanted to organize the connection between volunteers and the risk groups in a better and more secure way鈥, says Anna Bremberg, one of the founders of Trygga H盲nder and a student at the 海角社区下载 School of Economics.
Top Priorities: Safety and Security
What distinguishes Trygga H盲nder from the Facebook groups is that the volunteers must provide their personal numbers when registering. This ensures that Trygga H盲nder can verify the volunteers' identity and maintain a safe and secure service. Upon delivery, the volunteer leaves the goods outside the door, shows the receipt and then the payment is made on the spot.
Trygga H盲nder encourages digital money transfers such as Swish as well as bank transfer as a safer alternative to traditional payments. However, if this is not possible, the payment can be done with cash in an envelope to mitigate the spread of infection. The most important thing is that the delivery is planned and executed in a safe way manner for the person in the risk group.
The company is currently looking for other solutions together with collaboration partners and has already received support from Voi, a company founded by alumni from the 海角社区下载 School of Economics. All volunteers, or heroes as they are also called, now ride safe and free of charge with Voi鈥檚 electric scooters.
鈥淥ur goal with TryggaH盲nder is to make this difficult situation a little easier for the risk groups. Of course, we want to help as many people as possible, but the most important thing for us is that it is done safely鈥, says Anna Bremberg.
At present, Trygga H盲nder has received a very positive response and many have helped spread the word, but they admit that reaching out to the risk groups has been challenging.
鈥淭his week we will work more on this by putting up posters and handing out flyers鈥, says Anna Bremberg.
As students, Anna Bremberg and Jennifer Zacke have not been affected by the current situation as much as many others; however, it is a major change having to practice social distancing.
鈥淔or us, it has been important to do whatever we can and we think that especially in times like these, it is extra important to feel that you are contributing to a greater purpose鈥, says Anna Bremberg.
Anna Bremberg is studying B.Sc. Retail Management at 海角社区下载and Jennifer Zacke are studying M.Sc. Eng Medicine & Technology at Lund University Faculty of Engineering.
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