Five years ago, the first case of COVID-19 was detected in a Cuban in the province among those registered in the country. Dr. C. María de Lourdes Sánchez Álvarez still can’t shake the memory of those days. Sometimes, she even wakes up with a start at the sheer stress of running the Microbiology and Sanitary Chemistry Laboratory at the Provincial Center for Hygiene, Epidemiology, and Microbiology (CPHEM) in Villa Clara. The most difficult stage of COVID-19 was experienced there.
On the one hand, the test results, on the other, the challenge of Villa Clara residents and Cubans trying to overcome their anxiety and impatiently awaiting the verdict of a diagnosis. The world was already talking about a terrifying new holocaust, about the deaths and infections that appeared daily in the news, but what Dr. C. María de Lourdes never imagined was the harshness of those times when an unknown virus terrified humanity.
Amidst it all, there was hope that this nightmare would not reach our borders and erupt relentlessly like the most terrible hurricane. But the moment arrived on March 11, 2020, when the trigger occurred. Cuba reported the first cases in three Italian tourists from Lombardy who were admitted to the Pedro Kourí Institute of Tropical Medicine (IPK) in Havana.
Then, a result from the Villa Clara laboratory broke the routine. I remember Sánchez Álvarez once telling me: “We diagnosed the first affected Cuban among the tests performed at the Molecular Biology Laboratory. We were already facing the pandemic, and it was necessary to apply the three components that define the Cuban model of health management: the epidemiological area, the organization of health services, and management based on science, in which the vital participation of society cannot be excluded to achieve the proposed objectives.” And he continued: “It was our battle, the hour of the furnaces of an entire collective called to test ourselves and demonstrate what we were capable of, to apply skills, knowledge, to resort to virtuosity and ethics to move forward, defy fears, encourage each other, and take on the cause for humanity.”
Without a doubt, a red zone was emerging in that area on the Camajuaní highway. Long days for an entire team without paying attention to the clock, days of not returning home, of barely sleeping two hours. A world reduced to a space where its “inhabitants” were wrapped in suits, masks, and face masks, sometimes unrecognizable… with the intention of protecting each member of the group so that they would not infect or sicken their respective families.
“We had to extract the virus’s genetic material with optimal quality and perform a reliable professional diagnosis, facing the challenges of new and complex technologies. More than cold numbers, statistics, or theories, we had unforgettable experiences during the pandemic. Without a doubt, reality is often richer, more varied, more difficult, and always with greater nuances, since, in one way or another, we were all protagonists of this story.
” That Inner World Dr. C. María de Lourdes Sánchez recalled that while they overcame their fear of the powerful unknown, uncertainty and anxiety about the danger contained in the samples also proliferated. “I remember one day, after 48 hours of virtually no rest, we were informed of the arrival of a test from a distant province, arriving in the early hours of the morning.
The tests were received at all hours according to the epidemiological emergency in the territories, and we soon became a regional laboratory, handling diagnostics for five provinces in the central region, from Camagüey to Villa Clara, without ruling out the inclusion of 12 other districts in the country.”
—A challenge from María de Lourdes to María de Lourdes?
—Never before had I felt such a heavy burden on my shoulders in the practice of my profession, despite having faced other pandemics such as HIV/AIDS and H1N1, dengue fever, and cholera epidemics, to name a few. But COVID-19 marked a before and after; it was unprecedented. We had a social obligation and a responsibility to understand the consequences of each of our actions in service to the sick, who were in a peculiar state of dependency and vulnerability.”
—Even knowing it was a lethal virus?
—I’m not speaking only for myself. We were exposed daily, at risk of infection and death, but we did it with tenacity and love. Entering the Laboratory’s doors meant facing very hectic, dynamic days, searching for ways to overcome the challenges that arose in the face of the dramatic situation. Initially, there were three of us professionals to issue a report within 24 hours, and as the epidemiological situation became more complex, the number of large samples to be examined increased.
—In a complex period, with so many human losses, where shocks surface and are encountered, could we talk about the lessons learned from SARS-CoV-2? —I would say too many, especially in terms of what we could do that was within our reach, but something fundamental was the proliferation of values: solidarity, dignity, honesty, integrity, modesty, simplicity, patriotism, humanity, responsibility, hard work, and altruism, which are part of the human virtues, and especially the dedication of healthcare professionals as pillars in this battle. I believe they constitute the fundamental foundations for fulfilling Hippocrates’ mandate and Martí’s legacy.
Sharing feelings. Villa Clara was Cuba
It would be unforgivable to recall a history without reference to the many bastions that faced this unprecedented chapter. Let us think of the many students who never imagined experiencing the silence of the classrooms, of not smelling the chalk and the daily teachings of their teachers, of imagining the silent hallways of their institutions, of interrupting their studies to, together with their teachers, “storm” the neighborhoods and conduct investigations.
I add to the educational institutions, their teachers who abandoned their traditional teaching practices, and the rest of the workers who, overnight, became guardians of life by taking over the isolation centers.
A place for the different modes of transportation to search for the confirmed patient in order to begin their admission.
And I will never forget, during my reporting duties, that doctor who left the intensive care unit in despair because it was impossible to save a patient who was not a member of his family, but who felt it all the same.
And the Electromedicine technicians, tirelessly involved in trying to solve problems in the face of the imminent lack of oxygen that was so severe in those days. Those were times when innovation admitted no end.
I saw healthcare workers cry because, on a cell phone, their little girl begged her doctor father to ask why he wasn’t coming home. Sometimes words failed in the face of such innocence, or that nurse who couldn’t attend her mother’s birthday party, unaware that it would be the last in her mother’s life. There are many more episodes, other actions worthy of mention, which might offend sensibilities if left unmentioned; however, each person played their part and carries the medal of honor in their hearts for all they gave during those days when Villa Clara wore Cuban colors.
Source: : www.vanguardia.cu
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