Regina Evaristo is going through a harsh ordeal after he suffered "Covid-19" from her son, like many Brazilians who lost loved ones during the pandemic, but she decided to convert the tragedy into positive energy by helping medical personnel in their battle against the epidemic.
Regina says of her nurse Alan, who died at the age of 38, after he was full of life and activity, "He used to help people a lot, as if work in the emergency department was written for him from birth."
On April 7, Alan began to suffer from a high temperature, until he spent fifteen days leaving a nine-year-old daughter.
Regina was not able to bid her son farewell as she should, as he was buried within a few minutes by gravediggers wearing protective suits resembling astronaut uniforms.
The scene was repeated thousands of times in Brazil, the second country most affected by the "Covid-19" epidemic in terms of the number of deaths after the United States.
"The wound continues to bleed," says Evaristo, a 54-year-old celibate woman who runs a charity she founded with her son in Rio de Janeiro in 2009.
"A person fades from our sight and simply disappears from existence," she added. This pain in its fullest manifestations ».
Patients left behind
Alan died on April 22, when the death toll from "Covid-19" in Brazil did not exceed 3000.
Instead of giving in to despair, Regina Evaristo decided to act according to her faith, and to use her humble association to launch a large-scale humanitarian campaign.
"I had two options: either to remain in a permanent state of mourning, or to divert the pain to help others," said Regina. I tried to do what Alan wanted me to do. ”
Thanks to a fundraising campaign, thousands of protective equipment was provided for the treatment staff, as well as food rations for hospitals in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro.
The initiative aims to protect healers in light of the fatal shortage of equipment and capabilities that holds him responsible for the death of her son.
However, this battle is not easy in a country whose president reduces the danger of the virus, which he describes as just "simple flu", even though he personally infected it.
This woman, who studied theology and accounting, is accustomed to the scenes of misery in the shantytowns, where her association is active in helping the most miserable people.
But she could never have imagined the horrific scenes in public hospitals that exhausted their capacity at the height of the epidemic.
"I saw video recordings from the hospital where Alan was being treated that showed patients abandoned because the therapists did not have protective equipment," she says. They were not able to provide them with food. ”
"Many people died of loneliness and neglect," she added.
In Brazil, more than 300 nurses died as a result of "Covid-19", in a toll that is among the worst in the world, according to the Federal Council of Nurses.
Some of these people recently demonstrated to demand payment of their owed salaries, and to denounce corruption, which was reflected in the embezzlement of funds allocated to purchase equipment or build field hospitals.
Regina Evaristo asserts that "Covid-19" is not the reason for the death of her son, but "corruption".
Regina was unable to bid farewell to her son, as he was buried within a few minutes by gravediggers wearing astronaut protective suits.