Saying thank you with #NHSWellnessBoxes

Mohammed’s connection to King’s began 20 years ago as an undergraduate medical student. He returned to King’s to complete a MSc in Clinical Dermatology in 2016 and then worked in various roles in the Estates and Facilities Directorate.

Mohammed is currently studying for a MSc in Public Health but in April 2020 he was working at King’s Residences as a Welfare Allocations Officer. It was then that he heard about the #NHSWellnessBox initiative, a way to express gratitude to frontline staff for their dedication during the pandemic.

‘My friend from Guy’s, King’s & St Thomas’ medical school and fellow King’s alumni, Dr Nav Paul, had posted on her social media account about the wellness box initiative and I contacted her immediately as I wanted to get involved and offer my help and support’, he explains.

#NHSWellnessBox was created by Dr Vishal Patel, a Consultant Hepatologist at King’s College Hospital, and his wife Seena Chand, to raise awareness and funds for key items to fill care packages for NHS frontline staff to say a ‘thank you’ for all their hard work.

The boxes contain hand cream, lip balm, energy snacks, rehydration solutions, face wipes, wellbeing advice and hand-written messages of support from the local community.

Mohammed contacted Paul Miller, the Stamford Street Apartments (SSA) Residence Manager, about the initiative. Paul jumped at the chance to help and provided a safe space to assemble, store and distribute the wellness boxes.

It did not take them long to assemble a team of King’s students, staff and alumni volunteers, who worked to sort donations, pack boxes and hand-write notes to NHS staff in our partner hospitals.

‘With the generous help of volunteers, we were able to store, and assemble the various products into wellness boxes in the SSA lecture theatre, using PPE and maintaining social distancing. I would also coordinate with the wellbeing hubs at the hospitals the delivery dates and times in order to ensure the safe transport of the wellness boxes which were subsequently distributed to NHS staff’, Mohammed remembers.

A team of volunteers from Stamford Street Apartments, King’s Residences and the charity MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) contributed over 100 hours of their time voluntarily to support the initiative.

In the peak of the pandemic, this was a practical way for the King’s community to show their thanks and appreciation to those working on the front line.

Initially started to raise awareness among family, friends and the local community, nearly one year on, the #NHSWellnessBox initiative has led to over 4,000 Wellness Boxes being distributed to staff in 18 hospitals across England.

714 of those boxes were distributed by King’s volunteers to Guy’s and St Thomas’s and Lewisham Hopsitals.

A highlight for Mohammed was hearing the positive feedback and gratitude from the NHS staff for receiving the donations.

‘It was very heart-warming also to see how the volunteers came together and worked very diligently during the pandemic to assemble and deliver the wellness boxes. I am very grateful for all their hard work and enthusiasm,’ he says.

Volunteering as part of the wellness box initiative enabled Mohammed to develop new skills, as well as give back to the NHS.

‘I learnt many lessons – most importantly was the value of teamwork and how to optimise the various skill sets of the volunteers. I became more social media savvy and learnt about Instagram stories’, he explains.

Mohammed is now passionate about encouraging others to set up similar wellness box initiatives to thank other groups of people whose dedication to others often goes unnoticed.

For King’s Global Day of Service this March, he is running a workshop to share his experience with #NHSWellnessBox and hopes to inspire others to volunteer and run similar projects.

‘It would be amazing if we can get the wellness box initiative up and running again to support our NHS staff and key workers, like teachers, public sector workers, as well as marginalised groups including homeless people and refugees’, he says.

Register for Start a Wellness box initiative: A Global Day of Service workshop