Saving lives daily through the simple chain of whatsApp
With the current situation and the overtake of the CoronaVirus, resources are scarce and phones have been unanswered. People tried their best to find ICU beds, oxygen tanks and plasma donors, but their search didn’t end. The social media community was very helpful in the spreading of donors and Covid helplines, but most of these numbers were old, wrong or in the worst case, out of stock.
Since verification of leads was the problem, Ramakrishna R, CTO & Co-Founder of CureSkin, reached out to other companies who had created bots to help them find verified leads. Shikar Agarwal, the Co-founder of an ambulance aggregator startup called HelpNow, gave their company’s What’s app number for use. The bot was developed over the weekend and was able to start with a whopping 25,000 leads in the system. At the same time, Ramakrishna was helping the Sheroes team with volunteer management, so when he asked if they’d like to be a part of the HelpNow Bot initiative, many of them came on board. Not only do they work on What’s App, but they’ve also created a Twitter bot extension, so all the leads posted in the system will go live on Twitter at the same time, on this link: https://twitter.com/
If you require Covid resources and are feeling overwhelmed by the numbers you see or can’t get a hold of verified sources, this is what you can do. Type out your request along with the number of the supplier and send it to 8899889952 via What’s App, and you will get the latest information about the supplier. Additionally, you can use this link to try a sample number: https://wa.me/
Right now, as the cases begin to climb each day, the number of volunteers is also increasing, the numbers that need verifying are not going to stop and neither will the team of HelpNow Bot. They are sourcing leads from multiple channels and adding a feature to the bot so that suppliers, hospitals and pharmacies can share their latest information through the bot itself.
Doctors and frontline workers are fighting the battle for us at home, but shouldn’t forget the countless Covid warriors like the team of HelpNow Bot, who are doing their best to help us fight this battle. If you require any Covid resources, What’s App your request to HelpNow Bot and save a life. These are times we need to stand by each other, by restoring people's faith in humanity.
New Delhi 25th May 2021
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