Mercer Medical Students Start GACovidSitters To Help Healthcare Workers With Child Care

When their classes and clinical rotations were moved online due to COVID-19, some Mercer medical students decided they did not want to sit on the sidelines during the pandemic.

“All it took was an idea, a group of us, and time to make a website and an organization and we’re really been able to give back,” said third year student Alyse Ragauskas. “We’re out of the hospital, but I think we’ve been able to do a lot of good outside.”

She and her classmates formed the #MaconStrong group as a platform for community service work like sewing masks and supporting the “Feed the Frontlines” initiative donating food to healthcare workers.

They’ve also held donation drives to get supplies for homeless shelters. They’ve done all of it while still finishing their online classes.

“We just want Macon to know that we are here for them. We’re here for the Middle Georgia area.”

One of their latest initiatives is called GACovidSitters. Students are volunteering to help healthcare workers who need childcare, a pet sitter, or even just someone to pick up their groceries while they work long hours.

“To just help serve our community with just a variety of things that we can provide,” she said.

Ragauskas says she and her classmates got into the medical field to help others, and that is still their top priority, even if it looks different from what they expected right now.