GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – The
Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has launched a social media campaign to
raise awareness of the sustained burden the COVID-19 pandemic poses on the
mental health of frontline workers, inviting them to share their stories and
strategies to better manage and cope with this added challenge.
The Collective Prevention Services
(CPS), a department from the Sint Maarten Ministry of Public Health, Social
Development and Labour, is calling on frontline health workers to participate
in the campaign and share their strategies that could help other workers in the
region, the Americas and around the world.
The campaign “Mental Health Now –
Tell Your Story,” will collect written and video stories from healthcare
workers in the Americas through Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (www.twitter.com/opsoms; www.facebook.com/pahowho; www.instagram.com/opsoms), which
will be compiled and disseminated through PAHO’s website and social media
channels until the end of the year 2021.
The story selection will be based
on specific criteria, aiming to portray the breadth of the effects of the
pandemic and display the diversity of the Americas.
The pandemic has affected the
mental health of not only healthcare workers but also many other populations in
the Americas, as they faced personal bereavement, news about illness and death,
job losses, economic and social crises, domestic violence, school closures and
persistent widespread misinformation.