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Team Bahrain’s volunteers are busy across the kingdom in a variety of activities and services to combat the spread of Covid-19.
Almost 13,000 residents signed up within the first day of the initiative being announced. To assist in whatever way possible, I signed up when the initiative was announced and to be honest, had all but forgotten about it until I got a call last week.
I was asked to come to the Muharraq Fire Station at 10pm. First off, these days, when an expat gets a call from an Arabic speaker who says the word “corona” repeatedly, one should be forgiven for thinking of it as a trip to the gallows, I hope.
The evening took a decidedly more optimistic tone when the firefighters explained what I would be doing as part of the neighbourhood sanitisation team.
In an effort to sanitise as many common surfaces as possible, Team Bahrain is sanitising a different neighbourhood every week and I will be part of the 50 to 60 volunteers who will be sanitising our neighbourhood.
Our hour-long training was conducted by two of the firefighters at the fire station and attended by 22 Bahraini citizens and three expats, who all sat a metre away from each other in line with social distancing guidelines issued by the Ministry.
Our training involved an introduction to the personal protective equipment (PPE) we would be wearing, the equipment we would be using and best practices when it comes to sanitisation.
To begin, our lead instructor Mahmood showed us the chemical solution used by volunteers to sanitise surfaces like garage doors, door handles, windows and streets. With 10 per cent Clorox and 90 per cent water, the solution is ideal for non-medical surfaces and is targeted to not react negatively upon contact with skin.
Next up, we were shown the proper way to put on our Level C protective suits, ensuring that sleeves are secured over our gloves using tape. We were also shown how to properly put on and take off masks and gloves to minimise contact with skin and thus prevent the spread of the virus.
And finally, we were shown what kinds of surfaces we would be sanitising and the best way to do so efficiently.
To cap off the evening, each attendee was given arm bands to show that they had been trained and were told to start sanitising in our neighbourhoods donning these bands if we would like. Once the team reaches our neighbourhoods, we expect to receive a phone call calling us to arms, or umm, PPE.
While, admittedly, this is menial compared to what doctors and nurses in the kingdom and around the world are doing in the fight against Covid-19, the efforts of fellow volunteers have ensured that Bahrain is flattening the curve of the Covid-19 spread, so that our healthcare system is not overwhelmed.
