Underneath the white coat, 28 years have passed quickly, as if it were a sin to waste time because life is a bundle of opportunities, only while you breathe… Eliani has too many commitments in her shoes, sometimes they even exceed the 24 hours of the busiest day, but she assures that they have a vertex in a great passion: “Being a forensic expert.”
She says that the influence of a much-loved professor put her desire to become a forensic expert at the center of her desires. In Cuba, national and foreign television programs had already managed to exploit several similar inclinations, but hers became more established in the reality of Las Tunas, with just the right dose of wanting to defend the tranquility of her little piece of heaven.
“When I told my colleagues that I was going to specialize in Legal Medicine or Forensic Medicine, as it is known in the world, I received criticism, with affection, but criticism in the end. I don't think it was because they saw me as very fragile, but because this profession is one of working with violent deaths, suspected of criminality. Not everyone wants that in their daily life.
“In practice, it is also linked to many visits to penitentiary centers, investigation in uncertain conditions, connection with complex social elements... It truly entails a challenge but I never felt that my condition as a woman limited my performance.You just have to visualize what you want and the rest springs up more naturally than you might expect.”
Between the pauses that she unravels in her dialogue, Eliani Gómez Velázquez never ceases to surprise. From the Luis Urquiza Jorge Vocational Pre-University Institute of Exact Sciences (IPVCE in Spanish) would begin to establish herself with a certain gift to lead the euphoric student masses; at the University of Medical Sciences, although her studies did not give her much time, she took on a project of such magnitude: to be president of the FEU for the last three years of her degree.
“Imagine, those years are full of study. Accepting to be in charge of a center with more than two thousand students sounds like a big challenge, especially if you want to do things well. At that time the goal was very clear: to move forward with student activity and I like to believe that we achieved it. I remember that I presided over a secretariat in which one hundred percent of the members were men. The contrast was notable and perhaps from there I learned to deal with heterogeneous and diverse groups, united by respect.”
“At the same time, I was president of the FEU and a vertical intern in Legal Medicine. These were times of great motivation, of focusing a lot on my goals and, at the same time, falling in love with my profession. This is important. In academic training, passion, sensitivity, and pride are vital. Being a doctor plays with fibers that are very far from academic performance. It is necessary to achieve both.”
A piece of news overshadowed the third year of her residency: she was going to be a mother. She confesses that the greatest blessing of her existence was combined with the decision not to abandon any project. She greatly enjoyed the changes in her body, life itself growing inside her, and she assumed motherhood with the fortitude with which she had already shaped her efforts.
Her baby was 5 months old when fear became a visible claw and left her with a crust of panic that weighed on her even when she breathed. There were moments of forcing herself to be calm.
“In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, I got sick. Now I can say it easily, but at that time I almost paralyzed myself. It was not my safety that worried me, but the health of the small body that I had the obligation to protect. I was hospitalized and my coworkers were nearby, taking care of me. Today I say with joy that my entire family is a survivor of the virus that caused so much pain.”
The conversation is punctuated by phone calls and other interruptions. The specialist in Legal Medicine is currently also the deputy director of Diagnostic Media at the Ernesto Guevara Hospital.
“The institution has 16 departments and requires a lot of dedication and commitment to be up to the needs of the population. Sometimes I question my performance because I am only 28 years old and here more than 70 percent are experienced staff. Every day I am invited to learn something new…”
“Of course, it is a lot. I have a 2-year-old baby who asks me every morning if I am going to the hospital and when I return, he tells me ‘I missed you’. At the same time, I continue to do shifts in my department, I am doing a doctorate in Educational Sciences, I finished a diploma in Management and why continue…”
“I have to be at the hospital very early, every day, leave very late, and teach classes at the University of Medical Sciences. Fortunately, my husband is also a doctor and we organize ourselves to share household chores.”
She assures that family is always the most important thing, the watering hole where her strength to divide her time is multiplied. She confesses that, in the warmth of her family, with the consequent support network, she has been able to give herself the luxury of dreaming of a profession and a purpose. She advises to defend the home, to set priorities, and to go through life arm-in-arm with a partner, who is much more than a company, in that support lies great strength.
Meanwhile, her natural condition allows her to write another part of her story, and she smiles. “In the hospital, of the 16 cadres, 13 are women. We do not ask anyone for permission to empower ourselves. I have the reference of our director Marianela Zapata who can do everything and more. We have created a collective based on personal capabilities, not stereotypes.”
She speaks eloquently about day-to-day life. We wanted her to tell us anecdotes about her performance as a coroner, but ethics kept her quiet. When she lies to her family the dialogue is more beautiful, it lights up, and she seems calmer. An urgent request summons her from the phone. She walks quickly and disappears in the middle of any corridor. She looks very proud. And it is difficult to stop thinking, no way! Eliani doesn't fit into her 28 years...
