15/03/2021
LOOK: CB Javier, a resident physician at Makati Medical Center, expresses his grief and exhaustion as a medical frontliner.
As the Philippines marks its one year in lockdown, COVID-19 cases continue to surge and take its toll in the healthcare workforce. Javier describes the helplessness of having to witness dying patients unable to say their proper goodbyes.
Read CB Javier’s post in full:
"Ended my duty today with a mortality that really hits right in the chest. Seeing the rising numbers, I can't help but share what happened last night in the COVID ICU.
Imagine an unconscious, intubated patient, who is a mother and a wife dying right in front of your eyes despite maximal medical management ALONE in room full of strangers -- her doctors and nurses. She could not be visited inside the ICU, so the only means for them to say good bye to their mom, his wife was thru a video call.
They asked for them to see their mom, while intubated and hooked to continuous dialysis, and the moment they saw how their mom was struggling to breathe despite mechanical ventilating, they immediately started weeping, crying their hearts out as they felt helpless from afar.
I can only imagine what they were all feeling, being far away, having the last moments with their mom just thru a damn video call. You can't hug her, you can't kiss her, you can even touch her or be near her. I hope it does not happen to anyone else but we see this almost everyday.
So please, the pandemic ain't over and COVID isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Do not relax. Wear your masks, wash your hands and distance yourself from everyone else outside. Who knows, by doing this you might have already saved a life or two.”
📷: CB Javier
