chennai the pandemic has brought us all closer not only professionally but also personally which i think would not have happened in any other circumstance said dr n ramakrishnan director of critical care services apollo hospitalssince the covid19 outbreak doctors and healthcare workers in the city have been finding different ways to help one another and cope with the crisis from creating whatsapp buddy groups to holding talks to making video calls to check on juniorswhen the first lockdown was imposed we were all stressed and overburdened but as the days passed we realized that we have to come out of it and create a healthy atmosphere and when we made the effort things changed said a nirosha a senior nursenirosha said every day after lunch the nurses spend at least 15 minutes talking or sharing their experience either on the campus or through whatsapp our senior doctors also join the conversations we can see that everyone feels better confident and unwind she saida few hospitals like apollo have created separate unwinding rooms where doctors nurses and other staff can sit relax and share their experienceswe insist that they take regular breaks and during that time another person takes charge said dr ramakrishnan he said they insist all the staff avail leaves compulsorily and none of them are disturbed during that timemany also have whatsapp groups where members discuss noncovid information such as movies songs and share jokes these have helped dismantling the hierarchy to some extent social connectedness is the most important during this time and this is what keeps them going said dr yamini kannappan consultant psychiatrist kauvery hospital she said the pandemic and its uncertainty has impacted the mental health of several healthcare professionals especially the young and new nurses and house surgeonsmany of them are worried that they might infect their family and a few also miss their families because they live in other districts this is the time to build relationships and when a senior doctor joins the discussion it makes a huge impact she said its been 25 years since i graduated and i have never been closer to my mbbs batchmates before said dr yamini