Investec Private Banking supports the #CrazySocks4Docs initiative in the undergraduate medical programme with the theme, ‘Socks to start a conversation’, to encourage breaking down the stigma around mental health among doctors. On Friday 4 June, they provided medical students with a complimentary pair of socks to wear on the day.
Investec will be running a social media campaign until 9 June. Once the students have received their socks from Investec, they need to post a picture of themselves with their socks on either Instagram or Facebook or both, using the hashtags #2021UFS #Investec# #CrazySocks4Docs #StartTheConversation #YoungProfessionals.
The prizes for the best social media posts are five Takealot vouchers worth R1 000 each.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers around the world have not only battled this deadly disease, but also their own mental-health issues brought on by their daily experience of this pandemic.
COVID-19 has placed healthcare workers’ fears, fatigue, burnout, depression, and anxiety even more in the spotlight. Collectively, we have become more aware of how grateful we are to healthcare workers for standing in the front line for us.
It is for this reason that the annual #CrazySocks4Docs initiative is so important – to show support for healthcare workers.
Dr Geoffrey Toogood, an Australian cardiologist and advocate for mental health, came up with the idea of the #CrazySocks4Docs Day – an initiative that aims to create awareness for the vulnerability of doctors and other healthcare workers to mental illness and to destigmatise help-seeking behaviour in the medical community.
The
Ithemba Foundation, which brought this campaign to South Africa, launched a competition on the campuses of all medical schools, with a prize of R1 000 for the student with the most likes for her/his sock selfie.
Raise awareness about the pressure healthcare workers face
Dr Lynette van der Merwe, Undergraduate Medical Programme Director, School of Clinical Medicine at the University of the Free State (UFS), says on the first Friday of June every year, everyone in the healthcare community, as well as the public, are encouraged to wear fun, funky, colourful, or mismatched socks to raise awareness about the pressure healthcare workers face.
“Medical professionals are just as vulnerable to the same mental-health issues – fear, anger, fatigue, burnout, anxiety, and depression – as anyone else. The COVID-19 pandemic has spotlighted healthcare workers and the stigma around admitting that ‘I am not OK.’ Just as much as we need healthcare professionals to heal us, we also need to take care of them and support their mental-health needs,” says Dr Van der Merwe.
This year
This year,
Investec Private Banking will support the #CrazySocks4Docs initiative in the undergraduate medical programme with the theme, ‘Socks to start a conversation’, to encourage breaking down the stigma around mental health among doctors. They will provide medical students with a complimentary pair of socks to wear on the day.
Investec will be running a social media campaign until 9 June. Once the students have received their socks from Investec, they need to post a picture of themselves with their socks on either Instagram or Facebook or both, using the hashtags #2021UFS #Investec# #CrazySocks4Docs #StartTheConversation #YoungProfessionals.
The prizes for the best social media posts are five Takealot vouchers worth R1 000 each.
Investec Private Banking has been the bank of choice for SA’s top medical professionals for more than 30 years.
Investec partners with medical interns or medical officers working in community service for the Department of Health, as well as medical specialists or registrars working towards becoming specialists.
Cipla has partnered with the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) for the 2021 #CrazySocks4Docs campaign to raise awareness about the fact that our doctors are simply human and are dealing with a lot of ‘stuff’. By encouraging healthcare professionals and the public to wear their funky socks on Friday 4 June 2021, people will be standing (literally) in solidarity alongside our healthcare workers. This is essential in a country with a chronic shortage of doctors and specialists and a massive disease burden.
• The following hashtags can be used on Friday 4 June 2021 along with your sock selfies: #CrazySocks4Docs #CS4D #CreateAwareness #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #Care4OurCarers
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Read more about Dr Toogood’s ‘Embracing our vulnerability in medicine’