Elena Pagliarini works at a hospital in Cremona, an institution specialized in fighting contagion.
Last Friday, another 2,500 cases of contamination were recorded. In Lombardy, the area with the greatest economic power in the country, 890 people were killed. The region has one of the best health systems in the world, but those that make it work, like Elena Pagliarini, are unable to breathe. And it was in one of those moments of extreme tiredness that the picture was taken that went around the world.
“On the one hand, I was ashamed to be seen by so many people, for showing my fragility. But now, I feel happy, I received beautiful messages from people who were touched by my story,” said the nurse to the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, about the photo taken by a co-worker after a night’s work.
“I do not feel physically tired, I could work 24 hours straight if necessary, but I do not hide that I am anxious right now, because I am fighting an enemy I do not know”, he continues.
Doctors, nurses and caregivers. There are many who express themselves in the media or who share their daily lives on the internet with resuscitation services, which are saturated, and the patients whose case has to be classified.
Further south, in Tuscany, hospitals are also beginning to suffer.
The pressure increases
At the San Giovanni Bosco hospital in Turín, a psychological assistance team focused on oncology services, which has adapted to the pandemic, has been supporting medical service employees since last Wednesday.
“The initiative is mainly aimed at those who work with resuscitation and first aid,” explained Monica Agnesone, who is part of the team’s psychologists, to the newspaper La Stampa.
“But anyone who needs the service can request it, we are available to everyone,” he added.
Agnesone explains that the pressure and stress among caregivers increases because of the unrestrained pace of work, but also because “the tension is continuous, and therefore fear too. Fear of making mistakes, of being infected, of not being able to continue in these conditions .
In the northern city of Bergamo, about 50 doctors tested positive for the virus, according to Italian media.
Psychologist Monica Agnesone explains that she and her colleagues are teaching employees how to deal with emotions and stress, “taking time to disconnect, reorient and lower tension, doing breathing exercises, focusing on something else” .
Because otherwise, “stress ends up deteriorating energy”, he concludes.
More about the situation in Italy:
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