Chanapha Saenloet, a fourth-year student at Borommarajonani College of Nursing in Chonburi province, at first hesitated to apply to volunteer to help COVID-19 patients in home isolation when she was informed about the volunteer opportunity.
 
          For a moment she wasn’t confident in her ability to answer all questions the patients may ask her when she called them to check and assess their condition. Neither was she certain if she would really be able to help them gain access to the healthcare services they may request.
 
          But after an online briefing conducted via Zoom by a team from the National Health Security Office (NHSO), she gained more confidence and was convinced she could and should do the volunteer work.
 
          She has then become one of the 154 nursing students from the same nursing college to volunteer with the NHSO Region 6 in Rayong helping handle COVID-19 patients who are under home isolation in the eastern provinces.
 
          On Aug 9, 2021, when she began taking part in the volunteer work programme, it really warmed her heart when she called her first few patients and learned that she was the first to contact and help them with coordinating the delivery of necessary medications to them.
 
          Of course, some of the patients vented on her about their frustrations over problems in the Home Isolation programme such as that the NHSO’s hotline No.1330 appeared to always be busy especially when they really needed help.
 
          She dealt with such a situation by listening attentively to their complaints and trying to explain to those frustrated patients as much as she could the actual situation facing the NHSO’s hotline service. And when it came to questions, she couldn’t really answer, she asked a support team from the NHSO such as when she received a request for a lung X-ray service and information as to where COVID-19 testing services could be sought.
 
          “Is it a lot of pressure to deal with? Honestly, yes. It’s sometimes. But we always have those senior staff members from the NHSO to support us,” said the nursing student.
 
          About 7pm of every day, she and other volunteers and the NHSO staff in the same team have review and discussions about the work they have done at the end of the day, to see how they could improve their service.
           
          “Although I may be only a small part of the team, I’m now very proud of what I am doing. We help COVID-19 infected patients and there actually are more people who still are waiting for us to help them,” she said.
 


          Phanitnan Nuanchan, another four-year nursing student from the same college, shared the same pride of becoming a part of the volunteer work for COVID-19 patients in home isolation in the eastern provinces, where the number of new COVID-19 infections was rising.
 
          She said she now has an opportunity to put her nursing skills into good use. She at least could help assure these patients that they were receiving proper care, which helped relieve their stress associated with their infection.
 
          “I’m happy to be a part of this effort to help the people during this COVID-19 crisis,” she said.
 

          Under this cooperation between the college and the NHSO Region 6, these volunteering nursing students are joining the NHSO teams in providing COVID-19 patients some advice and assess their symptoms through a telephone call, said Sukjai Charoensuk, the director of Borommarajonani College of Nursing, Chonburi.
 
          And in case any patients tend to need to be admitted to a hospital for medical treatment, these volunteers are also responsible for coordinating the transfer of them to the hospital, she said.
 
          Working together with the NHSO Region 6, the college has integrated Primary Medical Care, a subject its fourth-year students are studying, into the NHSO’s Home Isolation programme for COVID-19 patients, she said.
 
          The subject deals with nursing skills ranging from how to conduct a physical examination on patients to how to provide them with primary care, she said.
 
          Starting Aug 9, 2021, a total of 100 mobile phones are provided to these volunteering students for calling patients in home isolation on a daily basis. And with these 154 nursing students joining the NHSO, they altogether are capable of calling more than 1,000 patients a day.
 
          “We started out with these fourth-year students because they are most ready to perform the task. And next we will evaluate the programme in two weeks to see if it will be possible to allow second- and third-year students to join it as well,” she said.
 
          Moreover, as a number of enquiries have been received recently from general volunteers who also would like to take part in this programme, the college and the NHSO are looking into the possibility of allowing the people who have not been trained in nursing or medicine to also volunteer with this programme in the future.
 
          As for the fourth-year nursing students now doing this volunteer work, she said, aside from having an opportunity to do good deeds, they will also benefit from learning about updates on this emerging disease, how the country’s healthcare system actually works from the primary care level to the tertiary level, and roles of tele-health and tele-medicine.
 
          More importantly, volunteering with the COVID-19 home isolation programme also comes as an important opportunity for these nursing students to practice their communication skills, which will prepare them for their work after graduation, she said.
 
          “They will also have a chance to learn from this volunteer work how important and practical holistic care is in real life,” she said.
 

          The volunteer programme will continue until the outbreak situation subsides, she said.
The college will find more volunteers to supply to the programme when this batch of nursing students graduates, she said.
 
          With between 300 and 1,000 patients to look after under COVID-19 home isolation, each team of nursing students are at the moment assigned to handle between 30 and 40 patients per day, while a total of five support teams from the NHSO Region 6 work to back them up, said Visit Yeesunthong, the director of the NHSO Region 6 Rayong
 
          In the future, these volunteering nursing students may also be assigned to handle other groups of patients in communities who have trouble visiting doctors during the COVID-19 outbreak such as patients with diabetes and hypertension, said Mr Visit.