First Person: Gabriele Laita, A COVID-19 Story
What impact has COVID-19 had on your work and life?
Red Cross activity has certainly changed a lot
because the Red Cross is not only based on rescue activities
but also on many other side activities. Right now,
due to the emergency, we must concentrate mainly on rescue work.
Rescue activity can be related to ambulance operations,
that is managing the emergency services
and managing -
I mean, emergency services for
COVID-19 patients in case they show serious symptoms,
then taking them to the hospital - but also rescue services
for the most vulnerable groups.
This means that a service has been set up
for the most vulnerable people and the patients themselves,
to provide home delivery of shopping and medicines.
So if anyone should show any pathologies,
should show any problems
then this system has been set up
so that the more fragile people can receive their shopping
or medications safely at home.
But it doesn't include other activities that were done before,
like spending time at the pediatric ward of the hospitals
or organizing events and organizing information points in the streets.
Something else that was supposed to take place now, during Easter time,
was a youth camp,
with a campsite organized by the Red Cross
so that all the members of the Red Cross
could meet during these holidays and join in,
get to know each other, make friends
so that the group becomes more and more united.
Unfortunately all these activities are completely blocked
and now it's exclusively about the emergency.
What else to say?
The service has been activated as quickly as possible
using Red Cross vehicles,
however the vehicles are always too few
compared to the requests that we receive.
Fortunately, we've reinforced our numbers using temporary volunteers, why?
To become Red Cross volunteers candidates obviously need to take some classes,
do probationary periods, do internships,
but in order to handle the emergency,
we have organized and set up quicker classes,
in such a way to provide services,
such as the shopping service or even other services like the smiling phone.
The smiling phone is a service that is simply based on
listening to people who need psychological support.
So we're here if people just need someone to talk to,
understanding what kind of need this person may have
and meanwhile trying to comfort him/her as much as possible.
Because right now many elderly people are alone at home.
This way they can at least talk to someone
with the smiling telephone service.
Everything changed overnight.
Now we just concentrate exclusively on the emergency
and all our energies are focused on it.
Find out more: ilo.org/covid19