Virus crisis eases but no let-up for Spain’s ambulances

by Daniel Bosque

Jordi Rodriguez drives the ambulance across the city at top speed as his colleagues in the back start putting on their protective gear.

Although the pandemic has weakened its deadly grip on Spain, there has been no let-up in the “constant tension” faced by ambulance crews who know the coronavirus could be lurking anywhere.

Rodriguez and his team were at the ambulance station at Parc Tauli hospital in Sabadell, north of Barcelona, when a call came in that a 65-year-old woman had collapsed at home.

Although no virus cases had been reported at the address, they took no chances.

“You can’t be sure, because these days anyone could be infected,” said Rodriguez, a stocky 47-year-old with an earring who works for the SEM, the emergency services in the northeastern Catalonia region.

“You have to protect yourself, not touch anything and always keep yourself clean, and that creates constant tension.”

When the ambulance stops, doctor Pere Lanau and nurse Monica Naval jump out in yellow coats, putting on gloves, two masks and goggles before going in through a slightly open door where a woman can be heard sobbing.

“We’re used to going straight in but now we have to take the time to protect ourselves,” says Rodriguez.

“It makes you feel bad because you know you have to get in there quickly because time is vital.”

A wide corridor leads to the sitting room where a woman’s lifeless body lies on the floor. The victim, who suffered from many preexisting medical conditions, had felt ill for days but nobody called the doctor until she collapsed.

“With all this virus going around, we thought it best to wait,” stammers the daughter, whose little girl is playing with her dolls in a nearby room.

“People are afraid, really afraid of hospitals and it hastens the end,” explains Naval, the 41-year-old nurse.

“Very few people come in but those that do are in serious or… very serious condition,” she says after returning to the ambulance station, carefully disposing of the protective gear that they took off and put into sealed bags after leaving the house.

Non-disposable items such as goggles are disinfected along with the inside of the ambulance and all the medical supplies. (AFP)