A group of friends in Mexico City has banded together to prepare breakfasts for busy health workers treating coronavirus patients in the capital’s south.
Over the past two weeks, Francisco Gurría and several of his friends have prepared more than 1,200 breakfasts – egg sandwiches, juice and fruit – for medical personnel at the National Institute of Respiratory Diseases (INER), the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition and the Manuel Gea González General Hospital.
They distribute the meals to the health workers on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays while they dedicate themselves on the other days of the week to sourcing the products they require to keep their charitable initiative going.
The friends have been accepting donations of products such as eggs, bread, fruit and vegetables from people who have contacted them via their Instagram account Gracias Personal Médico (Thanks Medical Personnel).
“We want to contribute a little bit to the medical personnel because they’re doing a great job for everyone; they treat everyone even though their salaries may be low or people might attack them when they see them,” said Gurría, a veterinarian who has seen a drop-off in clients since the beginning of the national social distancing initiative in late March.
Martha Medina, another member of the team of friends who get together to prepare the breakfasts, told the newspaper El Universal that she was motivated to do something to help health workers after hearing about the attacks to which some doctors and nurses have been subjected.
“It’s extremely sad that there are people who want to harm them … when they are the ones who are exposing themselves [to the risk of infection] in this … outbreak,” she said.
“A day has many hours and we’re going to make use of our time showing solidarity with those who are risking their lives for us,” Medina added.
She called on the public to keep sending food donations so that they can continue to support health workers on the frontline of the coronavirus battle.
The friends don’t yet know how long they will continue to prepare the meals – they won’t have as much free time after the end of the emergency period – but stress that they will continue to make as many as they can for the time being.
Their work and goodwill is certainly appreciated by the health workers at the three hospitals in the southern borough of Tlalpan.
“We’re working a lot here. It’s been very hard every day since the epidemic started in the country. These kinds of deeds make us feel like we’re supported,” said a doctor at INER.
“Doctors are very obsessive with our work, we don’t leave [the hospital] … because the care of these [Covid-19] patients is very demanding. Whenever there is a measure of this kind, we feel good.”
Source: El Universal (sp)
