Reflections of volunteer counselors working remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic-Implications for policy and practice

Abstract

Purpose: We reflect on our experience of running a remote volunteer counseling service, known as the Counseling Collective, to support patients and their families during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cape Town, South Africa, and the learning and implications for practice and policy regarding the effective utilization of volunteers during a crisis or disaster context.

Background: The Beta SARS-Co-2 variant dominated the second COVID-19 wave which gained momentum in December 2020, as public sector health teams prepared to deescalate services over the South African summer season. The ferocity with which the wave hit the city soon made it clear that volunteers would be needed to assist with counseling services as the Beta variant caused serious disease, resulting in a significant upswing in hospitalisations and deaths.

Methods: Four counselors and a colleague with oversight responsibilities of the volunteers reflected on the service we provided. This was done with the benefit of hindsight a year after the activities of the Counseling Collective were wrapped up.

Lessons learned: Virtual volunteers are a largely untapped resource in the South African health care system. Much is to be gained by using this underutilized resource to deliver patient-centred services, especially in times of crisis.

Conclusion: Networks of retired and self-employed health professionals, particularly nurses,-skilled volunteers-are a valuable resource and can be deployed for critical work using their versatile skillsets, in public health emergencies. Telephonic consultations are a useful modality for providing quality care and need to be built into the business of health services. Skills to conduct such consultations and for the provision of palliative care services need to be mainstreamed into the skillsets of health professionals.

Policy and clinical relevance: Public health disaster plans should include a blueprint for the rapid recruitment and deployment of volunteer counselors to assist permanent staff in providing crucial patient-centred care.

Keywords: COVID-19; South Africa; bereavement; remote work; volunteer counselors.

FIGURE 1

New daily hospitalisations and death rates per 100,000 in the Western cape 2020–2022

FIGURE 2

The nature of complicated cases managed by the Counselling Collective