BY CHRIST JOHN GAMARCHA AND IME SORNITO
COVERED head to toe in protective gear, nurses and doctors cluster around a patient, fighting to keep the coronavirus-stricken person alive.
Just behind them, unnoticed and unheard, workers in the same protective gear go about an entirely different task – disinfecting surfaces, collecting waste in biohazard bags, unobtrusively inching past beds and life-support machinery to mop the floor. They are “frontline heroes,” too, but operate in the shadows.
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At the coronavirus wards of the St. Paul’s Hospital of Iloilo on General Luna Street in Iloilo City, janitors and sanitation workers run a daily gantlet of infection risks to ensure that their facility run smoothly. They are critical to preventing the spread of the highly-contagious disease in the hospital battered by the health crisis. But their status as unskilled laborers in a behind-the-scenes role left them out of the public eye.
While healthcare workers are extoled for their lifesaving work during the pandemic, cleaners are rarely mentioned.
They feel “like nobody considers us,” one said shortly before starting the painstaking process of donning protective gear to enter an intensive care unit (ICU).
He and his colleagues said they are treated well by the medical staff, and they praised the team spirit within the hospital. Cleaners have also been included with medical workers in the first wave of coronavirus vaccinations.
But beyond the hospital gates, he said, the prevailing attitude toward cleaners is “I didn’t see you, I don’t know you.”
Some people’s scorn for janitors is so great that the 32-year-old resident of Molo district asked to be identified only by his initials, LA, as some relatives are unaware of his job.
“They’ll perceive it as something inferior, the fact that I’m a janitor,” he said.
Some relatives would also question the risk of working in a coronavirus ICU and the danger of transmitting the illness to his family, so he avoided telling them what he does for a living.
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Dr. Ma. Socorro Quiñon, chief of the Iloilo Provincial Health Office, considers LA’s work as integral part of the whole healthcare system.
He’s just as important as a doctor or a nurse, doing a completely different job, she told Panay News.
“Janitors and sanitation personnel work late at night, do the dirty job and expose themselves to hazardous wastes and chemicals – literally risking their lives,” Quiñon said. “They are the first line of defence against the spread of any infectious illnesses.”
As the health chief of the province’s battle against coronavirus, she lauded these people who work out of sight, often unappreciated and underestimated.
“They too must be given importance and due compensation for their hard work and diligence. These people should be respected because they are doing decent and noble jobs after all,” Quiñon said.
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For Maria Josefa Abunto of Barotac Nuevo, Iloilo, there is no denying that people around her town often talk only about doctors and nurses.
Of course it’s good that they talk about these frontliners as they are the ones fighting the “biggest battle” against the pandemic, the Sanitary Inspector II of the municipal government told Panay News.
“But along with them, there is us,” the 46-year-old mother said.
Since the pandemic ravaged her town, work hasn’t stopped for Abunto. Her team is in charge of the general cleanliness of 27 quarantine facilities in different barangays in Barotac Nuevo.
These facilities temporarily house residents and migrant workers being monitored for possible coronavirus infection.
“Once an individual has been discharged, my team don extra protective gear for a vigorous terminal clean,” shared Abunto.
The room, according to her, is first misted with a deep cleaning chemical to eliminate any virus before the crew goes in.
From there, the walls and floor are disinfected and everything is stripped, with the team sweeping through on a clockwise rotation to stay organized and make sure nothing is missed. Other layers of protection concerning ventilation and air flow also come into play.
The licensed midwife knew all too well the perils of being exposed to the coronavirus disease.
“We use the same personal protective equipment as nurses and doctors since the pandemic hit. But we heard so much about asymptomatic people passing on COVID-19. The thought of carrying the disease with us when we go home is simply too much to bear,” she said.
With groundhog days full of uncertainly, Abunto said she finds joy in knowing she has a purpose and this replenishes her zeal.
“We might not know how to heal a person, but we help a lot in our way, with our work. We’re a chain. Our work, I consider, is absolutely vital to bring this pandemic to an end,” Abunto said./P
