The day to day that relatives of patients live in this important health center is surrounded by many difficulties and needs, where the anguish of having a relative hospitalized is complicated by the hardships, to be able to obtain the medicines and supplies required by the doctors.
In the chapel square Divine Shepherdesslocated in front of the emergency room of the Antonio María Pineda Central Hospital in Barquisimeto, there are quantities of waste, mattresses, cardboard, plastic, hammocks and yellowed sheets, which deteriorate quickly when outdoors.
The lack of an adequate rest room near the emergency forces the relatives of patients to remain standing for long hours, in the middle of the square, and when there is no more energy, they have to lie down on those improvised beds where sleep becomes heavy.
Under an inclement sun, the cold of the night, sometimes with rain, people look for any corner to take shelter on top of an old cardboard located in the middle of the sidewalk and thus spend long hours waiting. In this dramatic picture, those who suffer the most are those from other cities. Many carry beach chairs, benches and even hammocks that hang from the bars of the perimeter fence of the chapel.
This is the case of José Soto, from Maracay, who three months ago received the news that his father was admitted to the Central Hospital as an emergency due to a severe femur fracture, which required his immediate intervention.
Mr. Soto’s situation is complicated since during his father’s recovery he became contaminated, and since then three long months have passed, forcing him to pay attention day and night to the calls of the porter’s staff.
“The situation is depressing, we leave our comforts to be attentive to any emergency. In my case, I have no family in this city, only my father, and since they called me, I feel like the world has collapsed.” he told the Barquisimeto News team, while he had his gaze lost contemplating the sky.
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In the midst of the difficult circumstance, José exclaimed that in the health facility, “There are no conditions for anyone, there even the medical staff who bite the bullet to save the lives of their patients grab a tail.”
It was found that the rest area, called Divine Pastor Hope Center, inaugurated in 2016, has been closed for more than 5 years. At first, the relatives of patients had bathrooms, showers, a pharmacy, a restaurant, lockers and even reclining seats; and at the time of an emergency, the relatives were called through a central system and an electronic screen that were installed in 3 spaces of the place.
In the same conditions as Mr. Soto, is Mrs. Mariflor León, a resident of the town of Quíbor, who reported that on December 31 her sister suffered a hemorrhagic stroke: “LThe doctors have behaved very well, but the environment in which they find themselves is depressing, thank God we take turns with family members but at night we have to deal with drunks, crazy people and live through all the difficult moments with emergencies and the news that you don’t want to hear.”
Another story known by the reporting team was that of the Alvarado family, who are installed under a huge tree of “saman”, located just in front of the chapel of the Central Hospital. There Mrs. Francys and her sisters prayed the rosary to ask for the recovery of Efraín Alvarado, a young man who was injured on January 1st when an unknown car took him ahead on the Guarico road, Morán Municipality.
Sitting on their cardboard, they reported that, “There are long hours stopped, both outside and inside the emergency. We are several and we need help, Efraín does not breathe on his own, he uses a manual respirator, enduring so much here is very hard, I do not wish it on anyone because there is not even a decent bathroom, to use the one outside you have to have two bolivars and it doesn’t even have water.”
Carmen Rosa Vargas is from Churuguara, Falcón state and they are as “ghost” since December 6, between the emergency and the small square, hoping that at any moment the doctors will tell her to take her daughter home. “My boy was also taken away by a car in the Palaciero sector, from there I am here, my daughter-in-law brings me the arepita when she can, sometimes the neighbors who are waiting just like me give me a little coffee, the 31 gave me two cartons that I put under this tree to half rest.”
Similar stories are heard daily in the vicinity of the Central Hospital of Barquisimeto and other care centers, where there are no spaces to house the relatives of the patients, who have to go hungry, thirsty, endure the desire to relieve themselves and get light with the flashlights of people who have their cell phones charged.
Zuleydy Márquez – NB
