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I take my hat off to my team

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. slept eight hours on the As far as mental health goes, Sanitas has trot. That’s an obvious provided us with guidance. We also have sessions with a psychologist, but until it all passes and we go repercussion, but at the back to normality I don’t think we can really take moment I don’t even really stock of what each of us needs, in psychological terms. We are still going through it. have time to think about it.

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. �

The loneliness pandemic

andrea espiñeira Healthcare Manager Sanitas Healthcare Funding When the pandemic started our colleagues in the 24-hour telephone service were overwhelmed with calls, so we started to work together to provide support. My Regional Director asked if I was interested in helping and I never thought twice about it.

GIJÓN — SPAIN

I have always loved being a nurse and working in insurance, I continue to do that, just from a different angle. I started to work for the 24-hour service, gathering information about how the whole system worked. To start with, we knew it was a virus that showed itself in flu-like symptoms, then there were more and more protocols, which I would put up on my kitchen wall near my computer.

I have a daughter of 10 years old and live in Avilés, Asturias. My ex-husband lives really nearby and she has been able to live alternate weeks with each of us. That has been good for us all.

One of the calls that touched me was from a young married couple. The wife was really afraid and anxious. She put her husband on and he told me he had to work a night shift and she would be alone in the house. I told him we were a 24-hour service and your wife can call us at any time of the night and we will look after her. That calmed her down and her husband thanked us for being there.

Another patient asked me if we could do some sort of test so that she could go back to her family in Madrid. She was grieving for her father, she hadn’t been able to be with him and was alone during the lock-down. She was quarantining alone. They were all sad stories. Without a doubt, one of the biggest tragedies of this lockdown and this pandemic is the loneliness and isolation felt by those who get infected and by their families.

There were particularly stressful moments, but we were lucky because the company gave us internet gym courses and psychological support via video call. They also did a series of conferences by a psychologist. Those were fantastic.

I have felt fully supported from the start. I have never felt worried about not having a job and I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with the Sanitas 24-hour service. �

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