In this month’s Spotlight interview, we had the pleasure of talking with Ruth Braga, Founder of ROSC Box, a subscription gift service curated for medical students and resident/practicing physicians.
What makes us love the idea of this subscription gift service? When a med student or physician receives their ROSC Box, they contain items that are both helpful and relevant to their medical journey. Not only that, when they open the package to find their personalized note, they realize someone cared enough to send it in the first place! We think of them personal packages of physician wellness.
Want to learn more? Read on to find out more about ROSC Box and their founder, Ruth Braga.
Elizabeth: What is ROSC Box?
Ruth: ROSC box is a subscription box that you can order on a one time, monthly, three month, six month, or twelve month basis. It’s filled with items that are meant to boost and uplift med students and residents each month and remind them how much they matter.
Elizabeth: How does it work?
Ruth: You can subscribe to receive or send a monthly box by going to ROSCBoxMD.com. You only have to sign up once if you’d like to subscribe and we will continue to send you a box about the same time every month. You can cancel at any time.
Elizabeth: So I would sign up to have it sent to a friend or family member who’s a medical student, resident physician, or even a practicing physician?
Ruth: Yes. We have nurses. We have other health care workers. It really can be anybody that you feel like needs a boost.
Elizabeth: Can you tell us how you came up with ROSC Box and about your vision?
Ruth: Yes. ROSC is a term that means a return of spontaneous circulation after CPR is performed. I recognize that being a medical student and a physician residency is really tough. You’ve got long hours and there’s a lot of discouraging things and struggles you go through. So the purpose of using ‘ROSC’ in the title of our box is that each month, you get that little boost and ‘oomph’ to your enthusiasm to keep going. That’s our primary goal. We want you to know how much you matter and we want you to keep going. Every box is filled with encouraging things to remind you that we’re cheering for you.
Elizabeth: Can you tell us a little bit about what you include in the boxes?
Ruth: We try to send stuff that’s actually useful. Pens, notebooks, gum, snacks. Every box has a theme, using ideas from different doctors and med students. These boxes are really created by you and for you.
Elizabeth: Who generally subscribes to ROSC Box?
Ruth: A lot of my subscribers are parents because parents are especially vulnerable to that loss. Their child is across the nation. They aren’t able to be right there. They are struggling because they know that their child needs support and they’re not able to be there in person.
Others subscribe for their spouse. It’s something that they want to send to that individual and just remind them that they care.
We have a lot that have subscribed for themselves, too, just to get a fun gift every month. Some will subscribe for a friend. Some will do a one-time box for a birthday gift. We have a lot of different subscribers.
We include a personalized note every month from the sender that will remind them that somebody’s looking out for them and that they haven’t been forgotten.
Elizabeth: I think that’s great. I love the idea of having something regularly sent to a loved one just to support them. Can you tell us what kind of feedback you’ve gotten from both the senders and the receivers?
Ruth: These are the things that keep me going. It’s been great, the timing of some of the feedback I’ve gotten. Just when I feel like I’m going to quit and why on earth am I doing this, I get a note from a spouse that ordered it for her husband and she said they wait to open it together. She steals half of it, so she loves the things that come in it, too!
We will get parents that will say, “Thank you so much. She got her box today and she called me and she loved it!” or “I just got off a 36 hour shift and I was so excited to get this out of my mailbox!” So these are the things that keep me going because I know there are people relying on getting their box next month.
The other thing I want to point out is that there are a lot of boxes that are really designed more for women and we really include the men.
Elizabeth: Tell us again how we can reach you.
Ruth: We’re on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also visit our website ROSCBoxMD.com or email me at info@roscboxmd.com. Use the coupon code ROSCMED when you check out to get 15% off your first box or a one-time subscription.
Elizabeth: This is great. I love what you’re doing to promote physician wellness and support physicians and medical students in their medical journey. It’s important and can’t be overlooked, so we appreciate everything that you do!
