The COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Programme (CoRe) is set to equip members of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association with requisite skills to help build resilience and deal with socioeconomic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a short ceremony to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the CoRe Programme, President of the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association, Mrs. Perpetual Ofori-Ampofo, intimated that nurses and midwives are the professional group that needs the CoRe Programme most.
“With 65,000 active members on the frontline of the COVID-19 battle, and the majority of them (67%) being females, nurses and midwives are probably the biggest-hit and most disrupted professionals by the effects of this unprecedented pandemic,” Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo said.
The Core Programme is an intervention of the Springboard Roadshow Foundation, in partnership with Solidaridad and the Mastercard Foundation. Since June this year, the programme has been providing support to young people aged 18 to 35 years by equipping them with relevant skills to enable them survive and thrive during and after disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme-interventions are delivered through three main avenues: namely e-learning, e-mentoring and e-counselling.
On her part, Executive Director of the Springboard Roadshow Foundation, Mrs. Comfort Ocran, expressed her excitement about prospects of the partnership. She highlighted positive impacts the CoRe Programme has already had on several thousands of Ghanaian youth.
Mrs. Ocran revealed that a number of nurses and midwives are already participating in the CoRe programme as individuals. “The institutional arrangement with the association will now allow us to deliver more tailored responses, and to measure the specific impact,” she said.
Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo welcomed the collaboration and shared that nurses and midwives typically spend the most contact hours with COVID-19 patients. She added that about 800 of their members have been infected while two had lost their lives. She added that many of their members were traumatised by their experiences this year – including displacement, rejection by family members, and in some instances loss of spouses due to many hours spent away from home.
“Contrary to the perception that COVID-19 is on the decline, the effects on nurses and midwives is being felt now more than ever. I am optimistic about the potential impact of the CoRe Programme on our members. I will be absolutely delighted if Springboard not only on-boards our members but also targets specific support to help us come through. In the end, it will Ghana that wins. If the nation has health professionals who are themselves healthy, resilient and ready to face the future, it will be for the country’s betterment as a whole,” Mrs. Ofori-Ampofo said
