Keanu Knauf. Praatgroepen over mentaal welzijn voor studenten.

People as your purpose? This could mean many things. Keanu Knauf has a heart for people. He is not only a master’s student Medicine, he’s also the president of BeMSA (Belgian Medical Students' Association), and volunteers at the Red Cross. He’ll gladly tell you more about it.

I’ll try my best to be a good doctor, both in terms of communication and medicine, and use the knowledge I get during my studies to help my patients as best as I can

Hey Keanu! Can you tell us a bit more about BeMSA?

Our mission with BeMSA VUB is trying to engage students in medicine or other paramedical programmes more in healthcare. We try to unite them and provide them with knowledge and skills that we don’t learn in our programme. That way, we try to turn them into competent leaders in healthcare in order to make medical help accessible for everyone.

There is a wide range of people who are the focus of BeMSA’s many projects. There are projects aimed at children and teenagers, as well as at the whole population of Brussels. Can you tell us more about the projects?

We have 6 standing committees in BeMSA, and each committee has its own focus. For example, there’s the standing committee on sexual and reproductive health, including HIV and AIDS. A long name, so we just shorten it to SCORA.” (laughs). In this theme, we have the SOS-project, where we go to high schools in Brussel to give sexual education.

Another theme is public health. Here we organize Teddy Bear Hospital: we invite children ages 4 through 6 to the hospital and learn them what happens there. That way, we hope they won’t be scared if they ever happen to break their arm or become ill and need to go to the hospital. There’s also Heart for Life, which we do together with ULB and UCL. In this project, we go to a busy place in Brussels to check the cardiovascular risk of people. We wear our white coats and we have monitors with us, to check people’s blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar level. So we see how their parameters are and then we have a little conversation with these people. We’re not doctors yet, so we can’t say: ‘You have to do this or that.’ The only thing we’re going to say is: ‘You should see your doctor’ or ‘Everything seems fine’. But even then, we still advise them to go to their doctor, just to make sure. Another theme we have is Human Rights and Peace. Here we focus for example on the refugee crisis. We create an escape room, where students can experience what it’s like to be a refugee. And there’s also Medical Education, so for example, together with the emergency department from UZ Brussel, we organize courses where students learn specific disaster medicine.

At the Red Cross, you learn how to turn things from class into practice. And I think it will make us better doctors

The projects you describe are focused on a variety of people. Is that a deliberate decision?

Yes, we once started with each of these topics because a student was eager to do something around it. These topics were well-received by the students, so we continued working with them. We like that we have a lot of topics and that they’re quite diverse. It’s also nice that we can put attention on most of these topics in our faculty and university. And it’s always well appreciated.

How did you become a member of BeMSA?

I’ve been a member for 4 years now, I think. Last year I was vice-president and this year, I’m president. I once started by helping with setting up some projects. They then told me I’d do well in the board. And yeah, I was interested. I still had some time to spare to do other things apart from my studies.

And why did you want to be president?

I couldn’t decide which standing committee I wanted to join. I also had some ideas that I really wanted to bring to life. One of them was creating group sessions about mental health for VUB-students.

That project now exists, in collaboration with a different department of BeMSA in Ghent. The project is called Start To Talk, we try to chat with people in a lowkey way. Certainly now, in times of corona, it’s needed. We work with moderators, who get a short training to learn some conversation skills for example. In the beginning, they are guided by more experienced moderators until they feel confident enough to work on their own. These talks always take place in group, we don’t offer individual guidance. The first steps were taken before corona, but as the pandemic hit, the students’ need accelerated the process.

The sessions last 2 hours and take place twice a month. We do have quite a lot of participating students: one group usually consists of 7 to 16 people. It’s available for everyone, we don’t refuse anyone. We also don’t ask where they’re from, so it could be that people from Antwerp or so are also joining.

How did corona impact the working of BeMSA?

Some projects, like the Teddy Bear Hospital, couldn’t continue due to corona. However, for most of our projects, we were able to provide an online alternative. Those proved quite popular, as it took place online and people could re-watch them any time. For example, instead of Teddy Bear Hospital, we created Teddy Bear Movie. One of us dressed up as a teddy bear and went to the hospital to dance and play around. We sent the video to teachers in preschool and primary schools so they could use it as course material.

And do you want to keep any corona workarounds?

We’d love to keep our reach. We hope that next year, we can organize a lecture physically in an auditorium while livestreaming it at the same time. Or record it, so it’s available for everyone. This way, we can inform more or put attention on more topics. We also work better together now. All these programs, like Teams, Slack, and Zoom, became more important and we were kept more up-to-date on what was going on with all of us. So we’ll keep those things in the future. The talking sessions on mental health are online now, but as soon as we can be together physically, we’ll look for a location to do so. It might be a bit more comfortable to talk about mental health when you can see the other people in real life. But we’ll keep some sessions online as well, like one of our two monthly sessions.

 I guess I’ll be happy when all students know: there’s a place to talk about my feelings

Next to BeMSA and your studies, you also make time to volunteer at the Red Cross. How did that happen?

When I was in my first year of Medicine, it was mostly very theoretical. At the Red Cross, you learn how to turn things from class into practice. And I think it will make us better doctors.

I can imagine volunteering gives you satisfaction?

Yeah, altruism, I think everyone gets a good feeling from that, I guess. It’s just fun to do. You get an extra social environment, you connect with people who are in the same situation as you. And it means you can joke about medical stuff, something my family wouldn’t get. (laughs).

And what are your plans after your studies?

I’ll try my best to be a good doctor, both in terms of communication and medicine, and use the knowledge I get during my studies to help my patients as best as I can.

Have you decided on a specialty?

I’m still in doubt, I change my mind every week. I want to get to know as many specialties as I can, in every department at the hospital or in a general practice. And after that, I’ll decide. I also checked Medics without Vacation or the Red Cross in another country. Both appeal to me, I just don’t know yet.

In the near future, your focus is on BeMSA. When will you get the feeling that your presidency was successful?

Personally, when our Start To Talk sessions are more accessible to all students in Brussels. So for VUB, EhB and the other colleges in Brussels. And that we can have more French-speaking participants, because right now this group is quite hard to reach. I guess I’ll be happy when all students know: there’s a place to talk about my feelings.

What can the world learn from our VUB-students, according to you?

From BeMSA specifically, I think everyone can stay up-to-date with the medical world. Which topics are important right now? What’s missing in medicine? How do you become a good health advocate? And from most VUB-students… Yeah, I think most of us are not afraid to speak our minds and discuss things; we might be a small university, but we’re known for our boldness and for trying to change things.

We’re able to enjoy drinks on a terrace again. Who, dead or alive, are you taking for a drink?

I’d choose my vice-president from BeMSA right now. She’s been a huge support for me this year and I still have to thank her for that. Without her, this year wouldn’t have ended so amazingly, so I really should thank her for that.

Would you like to find your purpose as well? Then take a look at The World Needs You under People.