- Title: Between duty and family: Philippines doctor isolates at home after work
- Date: 30th June 2020
- Summary: MANILA, PHILIPPINES (JUNE 26, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PATIENTS INSIDE COVID-19 EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTOR TENDING TO COVID-19 PATIENT DOCTORS RESUSCITATING PATIENT DOCTOR JAN CLAIRE DORADO, WEARING PROTECTIVE SUIT AND GOGGLES, INSIDE EMERGENCY ROOM DOCTORS USING DEFIBRILLATOR TO RESUSCITATE PATIENT HEART RATE MONITOR PATIENT'S FOOT DORADO WEARING PROTECTIVE SUIT, WORKING (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) DOCTOR, JAN CLAIRE DORADO, SAYING: "Most of the patients we handle when I'm at work are mostly my parents' age. It's such a heavy feeling knowing the same could happen to my parents, relatives, or even my siblings." VARIOUS OF DORADO RECEIVING MEAL FROM HER MOTHER WHILE OBSERVING PHYSICAL DISTANCING AT HOME DORADO EATING IN HER ISOLATED ROOM AT THEIR HOME MAKESHIFT OF HER ROOM MADE OF FOIL WITH A SMALL PLASTIC WINDOW VARIOUS OF DORADO TALKING TO HER MOTHER AND PET CAT FROM ISOLATED ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) DOCTOR, JAN CLAIRE DORADO SAYING: "Our house has a makeshift wall used as a droplet precaution. It safe to talk to them a metre or more away without a mask. For anything closer, we wear masks. My bathroom, utensils, laundry, are all separated from my family." VARIOUS OF DORADO PUTTING ON PPE SUIT, GLOVES, MASK DORADO PUTTING ON PPE SUIT AS SEEN FROM DOOR WINDOW (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) DOCTOR, JAN CLAIRE DORADO, SAYING: "Before I took the job I had a debate with my parents about the risky work and why I chose to do it. I told them this is what we're built for, we can't just stay safe inside our houses, we need to be out there helping others." VARIOUS OF PATIENTS INSIDE COVID-19 EMERGENCY ROOM VARIOUS OF DORADO TENDING TO COVID-19 PATIENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Filipino) DOCTOR, JAN CLAIRE DORADO, SAYING: "While on shift during Father's Day, I couldn't help but message my brother, I told him that we should be thankful for the well-being and health of our parents and relatives. It's difficult knowing what could happen to them after coming home from work." TANK DOCTOR HOLDING PRINTOUT OF PATIENT'S READINGS DOCTOR PREPARING INJECTION DOCTOR PUTTING IV NEEDLE INTO PATIENT'S FOOT PATIENT INSIDE EMERGENCY ROOM
- Embargoed: 14th July 2020 03:30
- Keywords: COVID-19 Manila Philippines coronavirus doctor hospital isolate patients
- Location: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
- City: MANILA, PHILIPPINES
- Country: Philippines
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001CKK8953
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: When Jan Claire Dorado comes home from work after treating COVID-19 patients at a hospital in Manila, she phones her mother, who is in another room within the same house.
She asks for dinner. She receives it in a small plastic tray, while maintaining distance from her mother.
She takes it to her table and eats with a phone beside the plate, usually with her favourite show on. Her family and pets can say hello behind the small plastic window on the foiled makeshift wall of her isolation room.
Dorado has been working at the COVID-19 Emergency Room of East Avenue Medical Center, one of the major hospitals in the Philippines.
The 30-year-old doctor, along with a small group of nurses, doctors, and aides, look after all suspected and confirmed COVID-19 patients brought to the emergency room. They also tend to other patients in need of resuscitation, whether from vehicular accidents, heart attacks, or electrocution.
Ideally, Dorado said health workers should be isolated from their families. Her initial plan after being accepted to work at the hospital was to rent an apartment but her parents insisted she stay at home. The day before her first duty, her father had already built a mini "isolation chamber" for her out of the storage room in their house.
"Before I took the job I had a debate with my parents about the risky work and why I chose to do it. I told them this is what we're built for, we can't just stay safe inside our houses, we need to be out there helping others," said Dorado.
Once, her mother asked if she could give her a hug to which she painfully refused.
Dorado's parents, both in their 50's, are considered high-risk because of preexisting conditions. Seeing patients of their age in the emergency room is one of the things that keep her going.
As of Monday (June 29), the Philippines has had 35,455 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 1,244 total deaths, health authorities said.
(Production: Adrian Portugal) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
