During the pandemic, the need to involve and employ a large number of people in the medical field was highlighted. Doctors, nurses and volunteers have been in high demand concerning the support and the help necessary for the sick and the vulnerable people during this challenging period. Therefore, this kind of professions have been are still are the most sought after. In other words, a strong and fast-growing demand for healthcare workers was observed in the last months.
On the one hand, within the SEPAL Project, the specialists from Bucovina Institute (Romania) tried to focus on the NEETs that have studied and that are certified in the medical field, implicitly those who finished the Post-Secondary School for Nurses, but not only. Needless to say, the professions in this field demand a period of training and study. Therefore, several, young people registered in our Project, aged between 24 and 29 years old followed an Apprenticeship stage during which they gained knowledge, developed skills and learnt by experiencing at the workplace. This period helped them in their process of employment.
The Romanian WISE Experts working within SEPAL supported numerous NEETs during the coronavirus pandemic which benefited and still benefit from the free services provided in the project. What is important to mention is that six young people are, at the present moment, in the Learning on the Job program, started in May 2020 at the County Hospital from Suceava (five NEETS) and at a Care Center for Elderly (one NEET).
The Lead Partner of the SEPAL Project, Bucovina Institute has been collaborating for many years (since 2005) with the Suceava County Hospital, meaning that there is a bilateral relationship based on a strong partnership. So, in order to have an overview of the NEETs’ itinerary, we communicate with them and with representatives from the institutions mentioned above and more than this, we monitor and evaluate their activity, while we are offering them the information and the support they need.
On the other hand, one partner from KoiSPE Diadromes (Greece) has been working in the National Public Health Organization (NPHO) since the beginning of the pandemic. The NPHO’s mission is to provide services that contribute to the protection and improvement of health and increase the life expectancy of the population by enhancing the capacity of the National Healthcare System, with particular focus on public health services, to effectively respond to threats to human health by communicable diseases through the early detection, monitoring and evaluation of risks, reporting and submission of evidence-based proposals and intervention measures.
Until the present moment, the SEPAL team from Greece haven’t placed any NEETS in the medical field, being difficult to employ them because the public health system does not allow unskilled individuals to access it and, more than this, they do not have any registered NEETs specialized in nursing or something similar. In this regard, Government asked for volunteers to help during this challenging period. A mandatory requirement was that they study or be graduates of medical schools or even retired doctors/ nurses. Although, two of their main LSCs (Local Stakeholders), AstroLab and Athens Makerspace, made thousands of masks and gave them to the health system.
In conclusion, the SEPAL Project’s team supports the NEETs who want to get involved, who want to follow an apprenticeship stage and later to learn at their job in order to develop their knowledge, their skills in the field and to gain the necessary experience that will help them on a long term.
