The public and community healthcare communities can now sign up for a free one-year subscription on the mobile app

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach^[1] - 29 April 2020 - In appreciation of the healthcare community during the COVID-19 outbreak, MindFi^[2], a mobile technology company, has collaborated with the Labour Movement's Healthcare Academy^[3] to offer healthcare workers free access to MindFi's popular mindfulness mobile app. Named 'Mindcare', this social impact initiative looks to benefit more than 90,000 public and community healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, allied health professionals, community caregivers and first responders by offering them a free one-year subscription to the app which is available on both iOS and Android devices.

The initiative comes on the back of growing pressure on the nation's healthcare system to combat the recent upsurge in COVID-19 cases, which has led to equally rising concerns about the well-being of healthcare workers, especially those on the frontlines. To provide support to this community and promote their self-care, the MindFi mobile app provides a diverse content library of mindfulness activities based on categories such as duration and personal goals.

The outreach and activation of the campaign are spearheaded by Healthcare Academy, which is a collaboration among NTUC LearningHub (NTUC LHUB), Healthcare Services Employees' Union (HSEU) and NTUC's Employability and Employment and Employability Institute (e2i). To do so, it will leverage its broad network of union members, Company Training Committees within the healthcare cluster, healthcare employers and current and past healthcare trainees.

"In these times of crisis, our public healthcare workers are at the frontline and selflessly doing their part for society. From the comforts of our homes, we want to help these carers care for themselves. We are honoured to partner with NTUC Healthcare Academy to launch this targeted initiative. We hope MindFi can be a useful tool for self-care during their brief moments of rest to restore some calm and comfort. We are also in discussions with more partners to broaden our social impact during these trying times," says Bjorn Lee, Founder & CEO of MindFi.

"Healthcare Services Employees' Union (HSEU) welcomes this meaningful partnership with MindFi especially during such challenging times where our healthcare employees are working tirelessly battling against COVID-19, screening patients and attending to the sick without having a thought of their own health at times. The MindFi app allows a break in the routine for our healthcare employees to have respite from exhaustion and have a de-stressing dose of Mindcare for relaxation. As a healthcare staff, I too find Mindcare to be a useful and practical tool and thus far have received good feedback from our union leaders who have used it. Healthcare Academy will continue to sense the pulse of our healthcare employees' needs so as to provide useful programmes that are relevant and impactful for our healthcare employees in collaboration with our partners and the public healthcare clusters." says K. Thanaletchimi, Chairman, Healthcare Academy and President, HSEU.

"We have witnessed how our healthcare workers have committed themselves to the lives of others through their unwavering dedication during this difficult crisis. As our nation rides through this black-swan event, we take comfort in knowing that we have a world-class healthcare system to rely on of which an integral part is the healthcare workers. We know that they have gone through tremendous stress and fatigue in the past months. In our small way, we hope that this initiative will help them squeeze out moments to relax and rest even as they tirelessly brave the fight against COVID-19. This is crucial as we all know that the journey will be long drawn and it is crucial that our healthcare workers' well-being continues to be maintained at a high and sustainable level. We as part of the Labour Movement will help bolster and sustain the engagement of this initiative as we continue training support for healthcare professionals and those joining the industry," says Deputy Chairman of Healthcare Academy and CEO of NTUC LHUB, Kwek Kok Kwong.

"NTUC's e2i is pleased to be part of this initiative to better enrich the mental wellbeing of our frontline healthcare workers in these trying times. We are working closely with our healthcare partners to extend this mobile app to their workers, and we hope to empower both the healthcare industry and workforce towards providing crucial community support needed in the battle against COVID-19," says Vicky Wong, Deputy Chairman of Healthcare Academy and Deputy CEO of e2i.

MindFi, which specializes in mindfulness apps and training for individuals and workplaces, has had good traction and has been lauded by esteemed practitioners for healthcare industry for its mobile app. For example, in a 2018 research study with Singapore General Hospital involving 40 participants, two in five participants who used the MindFi mobile application over a four-week period had improved mindfulness, which brought about a drop in stress level.

Associate Professor John Wong Chee Meng of National University of Singapore & National University Hospital says, "MindFi is a very calming, haptic and sensual application, bringing into one's private space the art of mindful breathing exercises and calming thoughts. The app is a handy tool everyone can access readily, bringing to awareness our emotional wellbeing wherever we may be calling from."

"Our healthcare workers have been working tirelessly since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. They have sacrificed their time with their family and loved ones in order to care for their patients. We are deeply appreciative of their contribution and commitment.  We also want to help ensure that they do not neglect their mental health and wellbeing even as they selflessly care for their patients.  The MindFi app will help our healthcare workers to take care of their mental and emotional wellbeing during this challenging period. We are grateful to HSEU for working closely with our healthcare clusters to render support to our healthcare workers through the various staff wellbeing initiatives being rolled out," says Dr Amy Khor, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Health and Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources."

Eligible healthcare workers may visit https://getmindfi.com/mindcare-hc/^[4] to register to activate the free membership.

References

1. ^{^} Media OutReach (www.media-outreach.com)
2. ^{^} MindFi (www.mindfi.co)
3. ^{^} Healthcare Academy (www.ntuclearninghub.com)
4. ^{^} https://getmindfi.com/mindcare-hc/ (getmindfi.com)