Swedish Princess Sofia to Volunteer by Cooking and Cleaning at Stockholm Hospital amidst COVID-19 Crisis

Princess Sofia of Sweden has started her first shift at the Stockholm hospital, Sophiahemmet, where she’ll be working as a medical assistant, supporting staff in their fight against COVID-19.

The Princess, who joined the Swedish Royal Family in 2015 after she married Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, the only son of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden, took a three-day medical course at Sophiahemmet University College, where she is also an honorary board member. 

The university is training up to 80 volunteers a week, including staff previously furloughed by SAS, to help lift the burden of the already overworked doctors, nurses, and other healthcare staff in the region. 

Margaretha Thorgren, Director of the Press Department at the Royal Court, said that the princess wanted to personally volunteer and help contribute to the current fight against coronavirus, according to the Swedish local paper Mitt i Östermalm.

Sweden has currently more than 14,000 infected patients and more than 1,500 deaths from COVID-19.

“I am now placed in one of the hospital’s care departments, where together with other newly trained colleagues, I support and relieve the healthcare staff with different tasks,” Princess Sofia wrote on Instagram,  

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I förra veckan genomgick jag en sjukvårdsutbildning med fördjupning inom hälsa, vård och omsorg på @sophiahemmet Inom ramen för ”beredskapslyftet” är jag nu placerad på en av sjukhusets vårdavdelningar där jag tillsammans med andra nyutbildade kollegor stöttar och avlastar vårdpersonalen med olika uppgifter, bland annat omsorg av patienter och städning. Sophiahemmet har i sin tur ställt sina resurser till Region Stockholms förfogande. Ett 40-tal medarbetare är utlånade för att arbeta inom intensivvården på akutsjukhusen. Dessutom avlastar Sophiahemmet akutsjukhusen genom att stötta kirurgi inom främst cancer. Jag är sedan tidigare engagerad i Sophiahemmets verksamhet. Att i denna svåra tid få möjlighet att hjälpa till är oerhört givande. Tack!

A post shared by Prinsparet (@prinsparet) on Apr 16, 2020 at 10:56am PDT

“To have the opportunity to help at this difficult time is extremely rewarding.”

Featured image: Anna-Lena Ahlström, The Royal Court, Sweden