Two things that are paralyzing enormous numbers of potential helpers: fear of not having permission, liability, etc fear of duplicating effort from not knowing who is working on what
in a fast moving crisis, sufficient confidence about either is always lagging the frontline.
First you have to solve this problem for yourself in order to get enough confidence to act. Something neglected might be to focus on solving it for others rather than just working on object level medical stuff (bottlenecks etc.)
I’d expand the “duplicating effort” into “not knowing the risk nor reward of any specific action. I think most agree that duplicate help efforts are better than duplicate Netflix show watches. But what to actually do instead is a mystery for many of us.
A whole lot of nerds are looking for ways to massively help, with a fairly small effort/risk for themselves. That probably doesn’t exist. You’re not the hero in a book, your contribution isn’t going to fix this (exceptions abound—if you have an expertise or path to helping, obviously continue to do that! This is for those who don’t know how to or are afraid to help).
But there are lots of small ways to help—have you put your contact info on neighbor’s doors, offering to do low-contact maintenance or assistance with chores? Offering help setting up video conferencing with their relatives/friends? Sharing grocery trips so only some of you have to go out every week?
Check in with local food charities—some need drivers for donation pick-ups, all need money (as always, but more so), and others have need for specific volunteer skills—give ’em a call and ask. Hospitals and emergency services are overwhelmed or on the verge of, and have enough attention that they don’t currently need volunteers, so leave them alone. But there are lots of important non-obvious services that do need your help.
And, of course, not making it worse is helping in itself.
For the first, don’t think in terms of the US and its suicidal litigiousness. Think Iran, think rural hospitals, think what people will do if someone is dying at home and no hospital will take them.
Two things that are paralyzing enormous numbers of potential helpers:
fear of not having permission, liability, etc
fear of duplicating effort from not knowing who is working on what
in a fast moving crisis, sufficient confidence about either is always lagging the frontline.
First you have to solve this problem for yourself in order to get enough confidence to act. Something neglected might be to focus on solving it for others rather than just working on object level medical stuff (bottlenecks etc.)
I’d expand the “duplicating effort” into “not knowing the risk nor reward of any specific action. I think most agree that duplicate help efforts are better than duplicate Netflix show watches. But what to actually do instead is a mystery for many of us.
A whole lot of nerds are looking for ways to massively help, with a fairly small effort/risk for themselves. That probably doesn’t exist. You’re not the hero in a book, your contribution isn’t going to fix this (exceptions abound—if you have an expertise or path to helping, obviously continue to do that! This is for those who don’t know how to or are afraid to help).
But there are lots of small ways to help—have you put your contact info on neighbor’s doors, offering to do low-contact maintenance or assistance with chores? Offering help setting up video conferencing with their relatives/friends? Sharing grocery trips so only some of you have to go out every week?
Check in with local food charities—some need drivers for donation pick-ups, all need money (as always, but more so), and others have need for specific volunteer skills—give ’em a call and ask. Hospitals and emergency services are overwhelmed or on the verge of, and have enough attention that they don’t currently need volunteers, so leave them alone. But there are lots of important non-obvious services that do need your help.
And, of course, not making it worse is helping in itself.
For the first, don’t think in terms of the US and its suicidal litigiousness. Think Iran, think rural hospitals, think what people will do if someone is dying at home and no hospital will take them.