Furloughed staff in Sweden retrain to help hospitals
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Furloughed because of the coronavirus pandemic, airline and hotel employees in Sweden are retraining to work as hospital and nursing home assistants as the death toll nears 900 in the Scandinavian country.
The initiative offers cabin crew — mostly from SAS Scandinavian airlines which said last month it would place 10,000 crew on furlough — courses to qualify to assist in hospitals and training for hotel workers to work in nursing homes.
After a three-day crash course in communicable diseases, hygiene and treating patients and one day of practical training they are sent to help.
Participants from the course have been sent to work at Sophiahemmet and other hospitals in the Stockholm region, which pay their salaries.
The training started at Sophiahemmet University, but after Sweden decided to close higher education establishments it is now carried out remotely online.
The assistants’ work allows other staff to focus on the rising number of COVID-19 patients.
More than 850 patients have died from the disease in Sweden and the country has registered around 9,600 confirmed cases — although authorities stress this figure is likely much higher.
