Bearing witness to a pandemic BUPA | SANITAS
For a whole, tough month I couldn’t see my son Martin. During that time he had his first birthday and started walking, all without me there. These things are hard, but that is how it is. Once during that time I went to my parents’ house just to leave them some provisions. I kept my distance and didn’t go in or anything, and he saw me and cried and stretched out his little hands to me. I have had lessons on tropical medicine, where they were talking about major diseases on other continents. But nobody prepares you, either professionally or psychologically, for what we had to go through. It’s not just about healthcare but about what nurses have to suffer when they stand by helpless and watch twenty people die in It is months since I have front of them. The emotional strain is very hard. As far as mental health goes, Sanitas has slept eight hours on the provided us with guidance. We also have sessions trot. That’s an obvious with a psychologist, but until it all passes and we go back to normality I don’t think we can really take repercussion, but at the of what each of us needs, in psychological moment I don’t even really stock terms. We are still going through it.
MADRID — SPAIN
have time to think about it.
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It is months since I have slept eight hours on the trot. That’s an obvious repercussion, but at the moment I don’t even really have time to think about it. I don’t know how it is in other countries, but in Spain you either suffer or you move on, that’s how it is. Not everyone knows what it’s like to look at rooms full of corpses! It’s the same with the news, they report as if we weren’t doing anything in the care homes. That really hurts. I love the Sanitas homes and I love my work and I have to say, they don’t know what they’re talking about! I haven’t seen my son for over a month. I have missed a whole load of important milestones in his life, yet I get no recognition for it and still have to hear such rubbish on the news! To get back to normal, I think we have to recognise what we have been through in this Covid crisis and I hope that one day they will truly recognise our work, not just in the hospitals but in all the care homes too. �
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