Margarita Hernández
, a nurse from the Mexican Institute for Social Security , helps patients with C OVID-19 to stay in touch with their relatives through letters.
The nurse who works at General Regional Hospital No. 1 in Tijuana , Baja California decided to help patients because she saw the anguish of both them and their relatives at the hospital.
Amid the pandemic, “ Magui ,” as her co-workers call her, noticed that the patients diagnosed with the new coronavirus got depressed or had anxiety since they had no contact with their relatives and this made her become an intermediary so that they could send and receive encouraging messages through letters.
“With the support of my co-workers, we got a telephone to be used exclusively in the COVID area so that patients could communicate with their families. However, when the call ended, I noticed their anxiety returned; therefore, I went back to the times of handwritten letters that were expected with excitement and I had the idea of implementing it in the hospital,” she explained.
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The initiative of this Mexican nurse went viral in social media, where she is called “ Lady Letters ” since she sends hope for those who are fighting against the new coronavirus.
She said that she sends and receives an average of 40 letters per day. “I notice that when patients are in a sad mood or feel tired, they take the piece of paper, read it again, and their mood improves as they feel connected to the outside world ,” she said.
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This moved her to suggest relatives to write letters that bring peace to the patients without telling them what is going out outside since they are things they cannot solve from the hospital .
Magui explained that patients with coronavirus need to know their family is doing fine, that they support them, and that they wish them to return home son.
Upon knowing about the kind labor of this nurse, the IMSS thanked her for her service and additional effort in the benefit of patients and their relatives.
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