Meet a Covid-19 warrior

By Jessy Joseph

New Delhi, May 12, 2020: Dony Dennis does not know why his mother does not hug him anymore.

“Mamma, don’t you love me as before? Am I not your little beloved son? When will you hug me again?” the 11-year-old has kept asking Rosamma Dennis since her return from Covid-19 duty in New Delhi’s Lok Nayak Jaya Prakash (LNJP) Hospital.

The frontline nurse and mother of two returned home on May 10 after 14 days of duty and another 14 days of quarantine in a hotel provided by her hospital.

“I want to cuddle my children, but cannot for some more days,” Rosamma told Matters India on May 12, the International Nurses Day.

She had left their home in Dilshad Garden in East Delhi on April 13 to join the frontline warriors in her hospital under the Delhi state government. The government has converted it into a Covid-19 hospital.

Rosamma has worked in the hospital’s intensive care unit for the past 20 years. She began her nursing career in 1995 after studies in Koyili Hospital in Kerala’s Kannur town.

“I was mentally prepared to face any difficulties that would come while serving the Covid-19 patients,” Rosamma said over phone. “I feel happy that I am part of the front line staff at the time of pandemic,” she added.

The 47-year-old woman, who joined the LNJP Hospital in 2000, says nursing is a passion not just profession for her.

Asked about the possibility of getting infected by coronavirus, she says, “I chose nursing knowing all the difficulties in this field. We will die one day and if I die treating Covid-19 patients so be it. I am not scared.”

Rosamma says nurses like her in the Covid-19 hospital follow all safety rules. “Once I am with the patients I stop thinking about family, and children. I only think of patients,” she sounded quite confident.

She found many patients in the Covid-19 ward lonely and depressed as they were left alone. Many believed that they would die of coronavirus.

“Patients cannot meet their loved ones and they have no one to talk. So when they see a nurse or a doctor they want to talk,” Rosamma narrated her experience in the Covid-19 mission.

She tried to make the patients feel at ease and reassured them that they would be alright soon and there was nothing to worry.

“We are not allowed to stay in the room for long. We are asked to finish our work and leave the room as soon as possible. So we cannot spend long time talking to them. It is also difficult to talk to anyone wearing the PPE (personal protective equipment),” she explained.

Many patients had asked her to remove the face mask and talk to them. But she made them understand that since Covid-19 is contagious they are not allowed to remove the mask.

“I have never gone through such an experience in my 20 years of nursing career,” she says.

“PPE makes us uncomfortable after sometime. It is very hot inside PPE. Air-condition is not allowed in the rooms. There are fans for the patients. We go through a lot of physical and mental strain wearing PPE. Our body and dress get soaked in sweat but can’t wipe. It is horrible,” Rosamma described her travail.

The Catholic woman said she prayed to Jesus while treating each patient. “While giving IV injections and medicines I pray, ‘Jesus please heal these patients through your precious blood, and be with them’.”

After the 14-day duty she and her colleagues were quarantined on April 27 at Regency Hotel, Karol Bagh, a central Delhi area.

She spent the 14-day quarantine time in prayer. “I used to attend two Masses online daily and say rosaries and watch Shalom TV.”

She and her colleagues strictly followed the instructions of the authorities during the quarantine days such as taking steam, drinking only hot water, sanitizing and keeping distance. In between they used to self-check if they had sore throat, cough and fever.

Meanwhile her son made video calls daily to find out when she would return. “Mamma, come back soon, I miss you,” he kept telling her.

Dennis, her husband who works with the Indian Railways, managed the family in her absence. He took care of the children and attended the household work and Rosamma is grateful to him.

Dennis and Rosamma had prepared the children to keep distance when Rosamma returned home.

Dariya Dennis, her elder daughter, understands the need for keeping distance. “But Dony finds it difficult,” said Rosamma, who also desperately wants to hug her children. But she has to wait some more time.