Every year, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) carries out a Community Service (KKN) program as a form of implementation of the Muhammadiyah College Catur Dharma. However, unlike the previous years, this year the Community Service Program was implemented with the concept of empowering communities using IT.
The UMY Institute for Research, Publication and Community Service (LP3M) conducted a thematic ceremony on Friday (10/07) for the Community Health-Themed Community Service for 178 participants, who were students from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. The ceremony was held online in the second-floor hall of the Library Building and commemorated by embedding KKN participant identification cards and protective masks to KKN participant representatives in Yogyakarta.
dr. Alfun Dhiya An, Sp.OG, as the representative of the Medical Education Profession Program, in his remarks revealed that the condition of the pandemic was a challenge for people in the medical field. “In this pandemic condition, we must be able to make ourselves aware and assist the community to be able to maintain and implement good health protocols,” he added.
On the same occasion, the Rector of UMY, Dr. Ir. Gunawan Budiyanto, M.P., IPM., Revealed that this pandemic has become a social issue where most people do not receive information from reliable and valid sources. As such, KKN participants are expected to educate the public. “In the pandemic era, most people are panicked, because their information came from sources that are actually just looking for shock value. So people cannot get the information they should get. So it is the duty of students to help educate the public in sorting out the real information, as well as how to respond and deal with pandemic times like now,” he explained.
The same notion was also conveyed by the Chairperson of UMY Daily Board of Directors, Dr. Agung Danarto., M.Ag., who stated that the education process should spread awareness to the public regarding how to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The locations for the KKN are spread out in 11 subdistricts in Bantul Regency with a duration of one month. Regarding its technical implementation, the Head of Community Service Division, Dr. Aris Slamet Widodo, S.P., M.Sc., explained that all activities will be carried out online through various media and applications that could be utilized by the community. “In each group, there will be at least one participant from Yogyakarta, and they will have a weekly obligation to coordinate directly with local community leaders, of course also adhering to health protocols in their travels,” he explained.
In this ceremony, the participants of the Community Service Program also received directives from the Secretary of Bantul Regency, Drs. Helmi Jamharis, M.M. He hopes that the students participating in the Community Service Program could influence and change people’s knowledge and attitudes in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic conditions. (ays)
