I read this morning about an emergency room doctor in NYC that died by suicide after she had been infected with COVID – it broke my heart. During this uncertain time, I can’t even fathom the burden healthcare workers are facing. Gearing up to go to battle each day with limited supplies – they are under enormous stress.  A combination of reading stories of tragedy and hearing anecdotes from on my own personal network motivated my team and I to create The Sukhi Project mobile app – it provides bite-sized meditations to help frontline healthcare workers deal with the stress of the new norm.

For context, I’m the Co-Founder of the mental wellness startup – Sukhi.  Our focus is to provide culturally sensitive mental wellness resources and corporate mindfulness. Typically our clients are employees that work for consulting firms, banks, and tech companies. They’re under stress – sure – but not to this degree. We felt the need to create an accessible resource that specifically targeted those who are working so hard to keep us healthy. The app allows healthcare workers who are fighting COVID-19 to pause, and press reset before, during, and after their shifts.

While many are transitioning to working from home, many of the medical jobs aren’t possible to do via a teleconferencing platform. This pandemic separates healthcare workers from their support structures – creating a situation where they are physically and emotionally vulnerable. This creates an unprecedented wave of anxiety as frontline workers balance socially isolating themselves from friends and family, having shortages of protective gear, and exposing themselves to the highly infectious disease.

For weeks my newsfeed has been filled with healthcare workers posting videos from emergency rooms across the country that depict their stressful work conditions. They look tired, anxious and in need of rest. With this app, we hope to help them by creating moments of tranquility - designed specifically for their needs. Some of the recordings include an energy boosting meditation before their shift, a quick stress reduction meditation for a reset following moments of distress, and calming exercises to help them relax and sleep once they return home.

One NYC nurse, and close friend, who plans to use the app sees the need for a meditation tool that fits with the time-crunched schedule of a busy frontline healthcare worker: “I currently only use apps to help me go to bed at night. However, this would be so helpful...to have in the moment help. I don’t have 10 minutes to spare on a shift, but a quick mental break would be very welcome! I know I'd use it, and so would the rest of the nurses in my ward.” 

Such interviews validated the idea, and we rushed to release app at no cost. I’ve personally seen how meditation and mindfulness training has been transformative for working teams already. While our medical community works diligently to take care of us, we all can provide small measures that will enable them to take care of themselves.

Our hope is to enable some well-deserved moments of calmness for those in the center of the storm.

Where to get the App

The Sukhi Project

Apple/iPhone : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-sukhi-project/id1508611921

Google/Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.app.sukhiii&hl=en_US

About the Author

Rahul Kulkarni is the CEO of Sukhi, a former McKinsey Consultant, and worked previously for the UN World Food Program (Ecuador) and the USAID ASSIST Program (Uganda). He has an MBA from MIT, an MPH from Tufts University School of Medicine, and completed 10 days of silence and meditation at a Buddhist ashram in India.