Perhaps, when this doctor was confronted in West Africa with the most lethal of recent viruses, Ebola, he did not imagine that this would be an important experience for an even worse mission to come.
Manatí, Las Tunas - René Aveleira Cutiño has just arrived at his beloved Manatí from Turin, Italy. There he was one of the two epidemiologists of the Cuban brigade that fought the COVID-19 in the second territory most affected by the pandemic in that country and now, with the peace of mind of being already at home, he brings us closer to his main experiences, feelings and sleeplessness that arose in the old continent.
With only the modesty of brave people without superhero coats, but with doctor's coats, he told us about every detail that animated his days. It was his mission to ensure the biosecurity of all the staff who were kept in the red zone in the field hospital.
"It was a very complex scenario," he said, "from the beginning, it was a challenge and a school, because we had to learn, above all, how to use technology; however, we contributed a lot in the use of the clinical method for the well-being of the patient.
With the humanism and solidarity that characterizes the Cuban people, these professionals managed to build a team with doctors from both nations, which had the patients as the center of interest; there was no dissent, different languages, only one objective: to save lives.
In an old locomotive facility, which became a field hospital with a capacity for 100 people, they confronted the enemy. "The great management and control that we Cuban professionals in communicable diseases have allowed us to face this virus with greater security, even, with the experience in the use of the suit".
Without a doubt, in the hearts of the Italians, there was eternal gratitude to each one of these physicians. This image of the tree of life, unprecedented in that region, motivated many people every day to take up this task.
"We proposed to the brigade leader to make the tree of life," says Aveleira. Every time a patient was discharged, we put a white ribbon on the plant, and it had many of them.
"We gave it the connotation that it carried because this was a symbol of everything we were doing in that land and the most impressive thing was that we put it at the entrance of the hospital. Every one admired it because it showed our sensitivity and humanism towards those who were infected."
There they also found recognition for our revolutionary leader: "We climbed the Fidel peak, which is a mountain at an altitude of 1,604 meters above sea level. There, a group of Italian friends planted a caguairán tree that they looked for in the Sierra Maestra." A visit was obligatory then for all those who carry their doctrines in their hearts.
"We also went to Ernesto Che Guevara Square in Turin, the only one of its kind in the entire European continent dedicated to our Cuban and Latin American hero and doctor".
There was overflowing gratitude, "five intense days of farewells and gratitude marked the last days. A country developed in technology and with a high scientific preparation that recognized the dedication to the work of the Cubans".
"We longed for the return to the Homeland, to my beloved Manatí, and I always had it in mind, because every time I entered the red zone I wrote on my suit, Manatí, and I felt that everyone came in with me to do their duty."
This hero could not finish the interview without first mentioning who his paradigms were in his daily practice: the health workers who stayed in Cuba to face SARS-CoV-2, not with high technology, but with high scientific levels and immense human values.
"My respects to them who showed the world that being so small, the Island was able to control the epidemic and offer other countries the most precious thing it has, its professionals, its soldiers, but of life.
"I return to the Homeland proud of having fulfilled my mission".
