Marbelis Ricardo Vázquez, a Nurse from Las Tunas province, will have many stories to tell to her twin children, female and male, when she returns from the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia, where she contributes to confront the COVID-19.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Her 10-year-old children are here in the care of other relatives, but they maintain systematic communication with the mother and they know that she went to help, save lives, be an example and enhance the solidarity that Cuba always multiplies, regardless of the prize or recognition.
Again, social media help us to get closer to our health personnel abroad, who left behind their routines to defy death and reduce infections caused by the new coronavirus.
The nurse, with a diploma in Emergencies, Caring for Serious Patients, arrived in the small nation on March 27 and after the necessary medical check-ups, she was located at Victoria Hospital, about 20 minutes from Rodney Bay, a picturesque place, surrounded by the sea and that she will never forget, as it is her first internationalist mission.
"This hospital is in charge of caring for patients with respiratory diseases, those suspected of being infected with the SARS-CoV-2, and those positive for COVID-19.
"We take great care of ourselves. We work as a couple and each one looks at the other while we get dressed. We use all means of protection and comply with the action protocols of each service, with frequent washing of hands and social isolation."
She is 45 years old and has dedicated 23 to the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna General Teaching Hospital in this city, 16 in the delivery room and the rest in the Oncohematology ward of this institution.
However, none of the previous experiences compares with what she now lives in Saint Lucia.
"I have come to feel fear. But, I encourage myself thinking that every day I work I help people to recover, to rejoin society. I feel useful and I know that it is only a grain of sand; but, I am contributing to the health of many. That makes me overcome fear and helps me to keep going.”
"Everything lived here is also unforgettable. And it gives me great satisfaction and rejoicing when I enter the ward and the patients greet me with joy and gratitude. That comforts my body and soul."
In Cuba, she has her source of inspiration. "My family! Every day they give me support, strength to not feel the distance and miss them less. I speak with my children every day, and with my husband and my mother. For them I continue this battle that I have had to face against an enemy that claims many lives."
She misses Las Tunas and her loved ones, friends, neighbors, and sends everyone a warning.
"That they maintain social isolation, use the mask, wash their hands ... To take care of ourselves all the time that the enemy is stalking us and we don't know where it is.”
