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WORLD NEWS Thursday 9 april 2020
Italy, Spain ICU pressures decline, but emotional toll rises

By NICOLE WINFIELD, MA- "This virus is strong. Strong,
RIA GRAZIA MURRU and strong strong," she said in a
ARITZ PARRA Skype interview with Ferrari,
Associated Press both of them in masks. "You
ROME (AP) — Maddalena cannot get used to it, be-
Ferrari lets herself cry when cause every patient has his
she takes off the surgical own story."
mask she wears even at In Italy, the national asso-
home to protect her elderly ciation of nurses and psy-
parents from the corona- chologists asked the gov-
virus that surrounds her at ernment for a coordinated,
work in one of Italy's hard- nationwide response for
est-hit intensive care units. the mental health care
In the privacy of her own needs of medical person-
bedroom, where no one nel, warning the "typical
can see, the nursing coordi- wave of stress disturbances
nator peels away the mask is only going to grow over
that both protects her and time."
hides her, and weeps for all The situation is similar in
the patients lost that day at Spain.
Bergamo's Pope John XXIII Dr. Luis Díaz Izquierdo, from
Hospital. the emergency service
"We're losing an entire gen- In this March 26, 2020 file photo, military trucks moving coffins of deceased people line up on the ward in suburban Madrid's
eration," Ferrari said at the highway next to Ponte Oglio, near Bergamo, Italy. Severo Ochoa Hospital,
end of one of her shifts. Associated Press. said the sense of helpless-
"They still had so much to staff cope with the trauma health care systems. relatives and even priests. ness is crushing for those
teach us." of seeing so much death "The adrenaline factor The sense of failure among who watch as patients
The pressures on hospital among patients who are works for a month, maxi- hospital staff, he said, is deteriorate in a matter of
ICUs in Italy and Spain may utterly alone. mum," said Dr. Alessandro overwhelming. hours.
have eased in recent days Seven weeks into Italy's out- Colombo, director of the "Each time it's a failure," "No matter what we did,
as new virus cases decline. break, the world's deadli- health care training acad- said Ferrari, the nursing co- they go, they pass away,"
But the emotional and psy- est, the adrenaline rush emy for the Lombardy re- ordinator at the Bergamo' he said. "And that person
chological toll the pan- that kept medical person- gion, who is researching hospital. You do everything knows that they are dying,
demic has taken on the nel going at the start has the psychological toll of for the patient, and "at the because breathing be-
doctors and nurses working been replaced by crush- the outbreak on medical end, if you're a believer, comes more difficult. And
there is only now beginning ing fatigue and fear of get- personnel. "We are enter- there is someone above they look into your eyes,
to emerge. ting the virus, researchers ing the second month, so you who has decided an- they get worse, until they
Already, two nurses in Italy say. With many doctors these people are physically other destiny for that per- finally surrender."
have killed themselves, and nurses deprived of and mentally tired." son." Diego Alonso, a nurse at
and psychologists have their normal family support According to his prelimi- Her colleague, Maria Be- Hospital de la Princesa, said
mobilized therapists and because they are isolat- nary research, the solitude rardelli, said medical per- he has been using tran-
online platforms to provide ing themselves, the mental of the patients has had a sonnel aren't used to see- quilizers to cope, as have
free consultation for medi- health of Italy and Spain's grievous impact on doctors ing patients die after two many of his colleagues. For
cal personnel. Individual overwhelmed medical and nurses. They are being weeks on ventilators, and Alonso, the fear is especial-
hospitals hold small group personnel is now a focus asked to step in at the bed- the emotional toll is devas- ly acute, given that his wife
therapy sessions to help of their already stressed side of the dying in place of tating. is due to give birth soon.q

German charity goes home-to-home in virus crisis

BERLIN (AP) — Poor families children's games to their the poverty line are now
are particularly hard-hit by doorstep. Normally, chil- struggling even more, said
the coronavirus pandemic, dren would be visiting one Buescher. The group esti-
even in rich countries like of the 27 centers run by the mates that without food
Germany. Arche, or Ark, where staff banks and school lunches,
Lockdowns are forcing chil- offer free lunches, tutoring families are now having to
dren to stay inside often- and a sympathetic ear. spend on average 250 eu-
cramped homes, amplify- With social distancing mea- ros ($275) more a month on
ing tensions that already sures in force, those cen- essentials.
exist. Food bank closures ters have been shut down. Staff are trying to provide
mean families have to Now staff are experiencing one-to-one tutoring to
spend of their limited mon- heartbreaking moments older children using video
ey on basic supplies and when they drop off aid chatting apps, to ensure
without access to social packs at families' homes, they don't fall too far be- Sali, center, receives a birthday present from social worker
workers, instances of vio- says spokesman Wolfgang hind on their school work. Rebekka Rauchhaus of the Christian charity the Arche, or Ark,
lence and abuse are easier Buescher. But there's a limit to how while his mother Janet, right, stands beside him at the doorsteps
to miss. Younger children struggle much help they can pro- of their apartment in the Hellersdorf suburb of Berlin, Germany,
Thursday, April 2, 2020.
A small Christian charity to understand that they vide from a distance, when Associated Press.
that provides help to about can't run out and embrace some families of nine are
1,300 poor families across the charity staff they used living in a 75 square-meter "You can imagine what's He accused the German
Germany is now delivering to play with every day. (800 square-foot) apart- happening there," said government of ignoring the
food, diapers, soap and Those previously living on ment. Buescher. plight of poor families.q