the day to day of workers and patients

The Zendal is one year old and, as a gift, it has reduced the number of admissions thanks to the vaccination although the health workers do not lower their guard.

Just a few days ago, the first anniversary of the inauguration of the Nurse Isabel Zendal hospital was celebrated, perhaps one of the most controversial points (and that is saying a lot) related to the Madrid’s community Since this damn pandemic broke out that is still in force and that threatens, in the midst of an upturn in infections and the accumulated incidence, with again threatening company dinners and Christmas with the family with a variant, the South African one, called Ómicron. The construction in record time of a pandemic hospital was the subject of criticism from the Madrid opposition for a work that almost doubled the cost budgeted when it was devised instead of allocating that money to reinforce public health. Even after observing power outages, the Community of Madrid warned that they were being sabotaged.

The hospital complex was built with the aim of support the rest of Madrid centers, completely overwhelmed by the first wave of coronavirus, and as they later recognized, it was able to relieve the healthcare pressure they suffered. Almost 8,500 patients that had to be admitted, of which 383 specified the stay in the FIA. Currently, the pandemic hospital – which only cares for patients infected by coronavirus – accommodates 110 people between pavilions one and two while the third is dedicated exclusively to the vaccination work. At this center alone, nearly two million sera have been inoculated.

“It is a hospital that is still operating with a lot of activity. Hundreds of people go to get vaccinated every day, “he says. Angel, nursing assistant at the Zendal since the day of its inauguration. He began working in the hospitalization areas but when the worst waves passed, he was transferred to the vaccination department. “I am acting and I came volunteer. Working in a pandemic hospital is an experience that I would recommend to everyone, ”he says. Apart from the excellent health work that all health personnel have done, Ángel keeps the human side. “Both my colleagues and I have formed a family with each other and with the patients. We have been the company they haven’t had for a long time, ”he recalls.

“I only have good words for the Zendal. They helped me a lot there, from the chief of medicine to the nursing assistants ”, remembers Gabriel, a patient who was admitted with bilateral pneumonia in January of this year. “We never lacked a happy face, I can only thank you because you saved my life. I was in a ward with eight other people and we could talk to each other, that helps to cope even if you are serious. I made friends with people and I keep the phone number of some of my colleagues. My experience was very good within gravity of being admitted there ”, Gabriel points out, who concludes. “I have friends and acquaintances who have been in other hospitals, alone in the room and have been psychologically touched by having spent so many hours of suffering alone.”

Take care and take care of yourself

Lola Aguilera is the clinical psychologist who has been in charge of taking care of the mental health of all the patients at Zendal. “The simple fact of seeing me every morning attending to one and another gave them preferential attention. They felt that I was listening to them and that, when you are in such a vulnerable situation, is very necessary. In fact, if they feel better about themselves, better mentally, cared for and listened to, it is very likely that the medical treatment will evolve favorably ”. Lola also remembers the essential work that he carried out with the family of the sick. “It was very gratifying to be able to help and support the relatives when they had to give them bad news and support them to cope with that situation.” Aguilera emphasizes that “also I had to attend to fellow health workers because to take care, first you have to feel taken care of ”.

The most diverse cases flourish in a pandemic hospital. “One thing I have learned is post ICU syndrome. When someone has been sedated for a while and is recovering, being extubated they suffer delusionsI have seen that in almost all the patients I have cared for ”, says Lola. “We must try to address it as soon as possible because if it is prolonged it can remain even when the patient is about to be discharged. The functional rehabilitation unit has now been created for them because they present many physical difficulties due to sedation and immobility. Here the role of clinical psychology is more important than ever because post-traumatic stress appears when they become aware of the functional losses they have had and this causes depression ”, emphasizes Dr. Aguilera.

“We are the largest Intermediate Unit in Spain”, explains Landete

Pedro Landed is the head of the UCRI (Intermediate Respiratory Care Unit) of Zendal He came as a volunteer to lead the project and, like all beginnings, he acknowledges that it was not easy. “We started with four beds, then we went to thirty-two and we opened more as the incidence increased. It was complicated until we increased the staff of pulmonologists and anesthetists ”, he points out. “We take care of assist patients early who need oxygen in large quantities to avoid ending up in the ICU because when they intubate the patient, the risk of infection also increases ”. Landete estimates that the UCRI has prevented up to 75% of cases from being admitted to the ICU. “We are the largest Intermediate Unit in Spain and, as far as we know, in Europe. More than 1,500 patients have passed through here ”, he says with pride.

Hospital sources acknowledge to El Confidencial that every day they receive thanks from patients and that, during this time, they have received donations, both from anonymous people and from companies, in the form of books, games and concerts by the group ‘Doctors for health’ to thank you for your work. A task that, although fortunately the cases of admissions, ICU and deaths have clearly decreased, even today it continues to be carried out at the Nurse Isabel Zendal hospital whose function is to take in patients in order to allow the rest of the centers to advance in the long-held list of operations with fatal consequences for many patients who never contracted the coronavirus.

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