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FEATURE
JUNE - JULY 2020 VOLUME I
BEHIND THE TRENCHES, UP CLOSE ON THE FRONTLINE by ALEA JEN VILLAHERMOSA
Back in the days before this unseen villain attacked, everyone was just listlessly buzzing through their hours going straight to classes or filling up absences. Some were stringing out their time on a job for overtime pay while others hit the computer shop as part of the daily grind. Others were content with getting drunk over chitchat, chips, and drinks with friends on a Friday night - not-soextraordinary routines for another normal day until a worldwide pandemic hit the country and changed the course of everyone’s lives. The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread like wildfire, infecting 18 million people and counting worldwide with no known cure and a vaccine still in the works. In the Philippines, the Department of Health has already recorded more than 100,000 confirmed cases, as of press time, alarming everyone in the country, especially the people who are risking their lives daily under the oath to save others – the medical frontliners. These are the people greatly exposed to the risk of pathogens as entailed in their profession to address everyone’s health needs and fulfil their oath. ON UNIFORMS AND THE COURAGE TO DO Donned with a laboratory coat over scrubs, a fitted face mask, a face shield, a pair of surgical gloves, and covered shoes, these comprise the usual get-up of medical professionals as they pave through their days in hospitals and other medical facilities attending to their patients; layer upon layer of protection and this is without a threat of a pandemic. How much more when COVID-19, a virus transmitted from respiratory droplets, took its course? In a time not-solong-ago, medical
PACK FOR A LIVING. Nanay Vilma Villahermosa packs her bread products that are ready for delivery. photo by Alea Jen Villahermosa.
NATION’S CALL. Ma. Concepcion Osano, RMT swabs a patient in full PPE.photo courtesy of Ma. Concepcion Osano,RMT.
professionals were already stringent in observing the donning and doffing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) yet as a pandemic that still troubles scientists to this day knocks closely by, PPEs continue to minimize the risk of frontliners being infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and other pathogens. The wearing of layered PPE is no walk at the park as what the 27-year-old, second-year pediatric resident doctor testifies to, especially during the summer. Outside the hospital, under the scorching heat of the sun, Dr. Anady Eleccion of Dr. Pablo O. Torre Memorial Hospital - Bacolod says that being in a twofold suit with her level 3 to 4 PPE is straining. “With the increased layers of protection, of course, there is also an increased level of discomfort, especially when it is used for a prolonged time,” she shares. Dr. Anady also attests that even with just a few hospital rounds of seeing her patients in an isolation tent, she is soaked in her sweat and feels dehydrated. Even though Dr. Anady expresses her discomfort on wearing PPE, she is determined to help and to serve for another day, “As long as my body is able, I will go.” Similarly, a 26-year-old medical technologist stationed at the Microbiology section
and a swabbing trainer for COVID-19 specimens at St. Luke’s Medical Center - Global City shares her struggle of wearing her N95 respirator. Ma. “Iya” Concepcion Osano, RMT, diagnosed with asthma, chooses to save lives despite spending most of her 16-18 hours per day in the hospital wearing PPE. Iya says that it is even harder to breathe when she moves and talks with her mask on. “... Plus, I have to wear my [PPE] body suit so it gets hotter and I struggle to breathe even more,” she adds. But for Iya, serving in the medical community is her calling. Though being a health professional, especially at this time, is a challenge and half of her wants to take a leave off work due to exhaustion, she couldn’t do it because she is mostly committed to helping her colleagues overcome this pandemic. ON PROTECTIVE GEAR OUTSIDE VULNERABILITY Protective gears don’t cover vulnerability. One might not easily see the hardships our medical frontliners have to go through every single day as they don on masks and the bravery to continue taking care of others despite having bottled-up emotions and being victims of discrimination
“We worry for our own health and that of our family’s safety, we grieve when we have patients who die, and we are hurt when we are discriminated because of our line of work,” Dr. Anady outlines her emotional and psychological stress and concerns aside from physical fatigue brought by spending 24 to 30 hours on hospital duty. Every day is a struggle for a frontliner. Battling an unseen enemy in uncertain circumstances is already an obstacle itself. Top that with the need to take extra precaution in everything they do in order to protect themselves and their loved ones adds to the burdens they encounter. Being a medical frontliner entails sacrifice – sacrificing your time to just attend to your patients even on twilight hours and how a simple hug or a cup of coffee with someone dear can be a risk itself. For Dr. Anady, Iya, and other frontliners, this means physically distancing themselves from their families - no hugging, kissing, and the lesser conversations, the better. ON HEROES THAT SKIP THE CAPE BUT DON APRONS Our medical frontliners aren’t the only ones serving the people in a pandemic. Journalists, staff of food manufacturers and food and package couriers, store employees, drivers, armed forces, and garbage collectors are some of the many frontliners who toil day in, day out in serving the community. A 56-year-old food manufacturer in San Enrique, Negros Occidental, shares her package of hard work wrapped in her 15-year-old bakery, being among the few businesses allowed to operate in the municipality during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) from March to April. Nanay Wilma Villahermosa, the owner of the bakery, says that
To l e n t i n e S t a r i s t h e o f f i c i a l s t u d e n t p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f N e g r o s O c c i d e n t a l - R e c o l e t o s
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