Christmas’ suspended ‘in hospital and ambulances:’ Tired but always next to isolated Covid patients. An appeal? Be responsible ‘

“A suspended Christmas.” That’s what participating doctors, nurses and volunteers are experiencing front line in the fight against Covid. Since February they have never stopped and during the holidays they are called to a greater effort than in previous years. “The volume of patients is much higher so there will be more staff working”, explains the professor Raffaele Bruno, director of the department of infectious diseases of the San Matteo Polyclinic of Pavía. He will not return to Calabria with his family as in previous years, but will remain in the hospital. “We came to these parties tired both psychologically and physically – says Professor Bruno – the short summer break was not enough to recharge the batteries given the resurgence of infections that we have registered since October”.

Compared to last Christmas, the First aid dedicated only to Covid patients: “A year ago we couldn’t even imagine having such a space,” explains the professor Stefano perlini who directs the San Matteo Emergency Service in Pavia. Here, every night, three doctors work: “One more than normal plus twelve nurses. All of this results in a surplus of work and attention“A workload that adds to the accumulated in recent months.” Anxiety and apprehension of patients also inevitably affect us, “he says. Mario isola, a volunteer of the Purple Cross who in recent months has led the ambulances in the difficult Milanese nights. “At first there was a bit of fear because the virus was unknown and that is why we were afraid to go home to our family,” he says.

Today there is more awareness, but there remains the anxiety of not knowing “when it will end” as the nurse explains Claudio Bertolle who works at station 118 in Milan. “On holidays there are many people calling even just to hear a friendly voice – says operations manager Soreu, the regional emergency-urgency operations room in Lombardy, Alessandra sforza – we are in a waiting phase in which we try to recover energy because the virus race could start again”.

It seems like a sign of hope for the new year get from the vaccine. “The only way to get out of this situation is to have few infections and get vaccinated – Professor Bruno specifies – regarding this summer, we arrived at these Christmas holidays with still high numbers, more than six hundred deaths a day, so the objective should be to return to comforting epidemiological figures. “Otherwise, the risk is that” doctors will ‘commit’ to the treatment of patients and the vaccination campaign will slow down. “