FEATURE
Sukhmeet Singh Sachal, a second-year medical student at the University of British Columbia, has recently committed to implementing public health interventions at Gurdwaras to stop the spread of COVID 19
SUKHMEET SACHAL
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T
he Coronavirus pandemic locked many of us inside our houses. But it could not stop our elderly population to take a leap of faith and visit Gurdwaras and other places of worship. It became important to spread awareness of basic safety measures amongst our elderly. Sukhmeet Singh Sachal, a second-year medical student at the University of British Columbia, has recently committed to implementing public health interventions at Gurdwaras in British Columbia to protect elderly patrons and the general public, under Clinton Foundation initiative for fight COVID-19 pandemic. Sukhmeet was recently named as one
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of the two Canadians among 38 youth worldwide to have received funding from the Clinton Foundation. Under Sukhmeet's initiative the idea is to create awareness amongst the temple devotees especially the elders about the need for taking precautions during this pandemic. "With the active cases of COVID-19 rising in BC, we want to keep patrons visiting the Gurdwaras safe. Especially, our messaging will be targeted towards our elders who attend Gurdwaras not just for their spiritual well-being, but also for the sense of community that is formed," says Sukhmeet. As many as 1,400 youth from all over the world had applied to the Clinton Global
Initiative University (CGI U) COVID-19 Student Action Fund and after much scrutiny, 38 projects were selected. Working within the CGI U Commitment to Action model, this fund is geared towards 38 innovative social impact projects addressing the public health, economic and societal impacts of the novel coronavirus — with commitments including infectious disease monitoring and response systems; social enterprises; awareness and prevention campaigns; and other emergency response initiatives to provide immediate support for public health practitioners and other essential workers on the frontlines. The fund provides $100,000 in total to www.desitoday.ca