Ambulance work, tickets for doctors and hospitals in stadiums: how the world of sports helps fight coronavirus

The world of sports has always been sensitive to the problems of mankind and global disasters. Athletes and fans have repeatedly helped to overcome the consequences of natural disasters, participated in charity work and provided assistance to those in need. The coronavirus pandemic was no exception. The whole planet threw its forces to fight a new infection, and athletes also actively joined in it.

While some donate huge sums of money to hospitals and doctors, some began to save lives on their own. Scottish curling woman, silver medalist of the last European Championship Victoria Wright began to work as a nurse in the surgical department on an ongoing basis. In March, she was supposed to participate with her team in the World Cup in Canada. But when the competition was canceled, the athlete realized that now people need the skills that she received at the university.

“We saw how everything is changing rapidly, and we knew that there was something more important than the sporting events, which are now relegated to the background. They should be in second place in relation to what is happening, and when I came to the hospital last week, I really realized this. Working as a nurse always gave me a good idea of ​​life and helped me focus on the important. All these years, I have always believed that being with someone and taking care of them when they are sick and vulnerable is a privilege, ”Wright said in an interview with BBC.

Helps his compatriots and Italian rugby player Maxim Mbanda. The 27-year-old athlete began working as an ambulance driver in Parma, where he plays for the Tsebre Club. In addition to transporting patients, Mbanda, whose father works as a surgeon, helps carry patients on a stretcher and holds oxygen for those who travel in wheelchairs.

“When everything stopped in rugby, I tried to understand how I could be useful, despite the lack of a medical education. I have been working without days off for eight days, 12-13 hours each. When I saw what was going on in the infectious wards, I told myself that I had no right to get tired, ”Mbanda told AFP.

A rugby player is sure that if other people saw how doctors fight for other people's lives for 20-22 hours a day, they would behave more responsibly in a pandemic, and then its scale could be reduced.

Russian hockey player Yegor Sokolov, playing in Canada for the Cape Breton Eagles club, also noted with a beautiful gesture. While there is no way to play and train, he delivers food from local stores.

“I just take the goods and go home, leave them at the door. Coronavirus is scary, and I think people should take it seriously. Many people become infected in Europe, and you do not want to be in this situation. I think people should stay home, ”he told CTV News Atlantic.

Many countries have faced a shortage of hospitals and beds for coronavirus patients. But while the sport is paused, stadiums can be used for these purposes. This is what Brazil did. It has already been announced that the legendary Maracana Arena will become a field hospital along with several more football stadiums across the country. Also, the training base of the Italian national team in Querciano will be converted into a center for treatment for coronavirus.

Another fate awaits the home arena of Real Madrid Santiago Bernabeu. The club announced that it will turn it into a warehouse for storing food and medicine needed to fight the coronavirus. We will have to redesign and the Madrid Ice Palace. According to media reports, it will become a temporary morgue for storing the bodies of the dead, as regular funeral services cannot cope with the dramatically increased number of deaths due to coronavirus. The death toll in Madrid has already exceeded two thousand.

. @ RealMadrid and @deportegob open large medical supplies center at the Santiago Bernabéu. # RealMadrid | #StayHome

Sports stars are also trying to compensate for the lack of necessary equipment for treatment. So, the former first racket of the world Anna Ivanovich allocated funds through the UNICEF fund for the purchase of 35 mechanical ventilation devices in her native Serbia. The amount of the donation amounted to almost $ 500 thousand - one-thirtieth of her official earnings in tennis for her career. And the Chelsea footballer Pedro helped London doctors and acquired three thousand protective screens for them.

Fans of "Spartak" in their own way supported the doctors of the hospital in Moscow Kommunarka, which contains the bulk of the inhabitants of the capital infected with coronavirus. They painted graffiti opposite the hospital - a masked doctor and a fan with soap next to the words “Fight and Win”.

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Publication from LIFESTYLE SPARTAK (@supporters_group) Mar 26, 2020 at 1:23 PDT

“We want to express our gratitude to all the doctors (not only working in Kommunark, but also bearing their medical posts throughout the country). Thank you for your courage and for your dedication! Everyone who has been diagnosed with coronavirus has a quick and easy recovery! ” - said the authors of the mural from the Supporters Group.

Fans also said they would help former red-white players and their families in isolation. Spartak fans will buy and deliver food packages to them at their own expense.

“The first packages from us have already been sent to the family of Nikolai Petrovich Starostin, the widows of Galimzyan Khusainov and Valentin Ivakin, as well as to the veterans of our club Alexander Piskaryov, Vladimir Petrov, Nikolay Kiselev, Sergey Rozhkov, Sergey Olshansky and Alexander Grebnev,” the fan group reported. your Instagram.

Doctors also decided to support two clubs in the English Premier League. Brighton has announced that it will allocate a thousand tickets to the National Health Service of England for its contribution to the fight against coronavirus. His example was followed by Bournemouth. However, according to The Telegraph, other clubs were not happy with this initiative and did not support the initiative. At the moment, the season in the Premier League is still stopped, and the doctors will not soon take advantage of the gift of Brighton and Bournemouth.

💙 Thank you, @NHSuk 💙 # BHAFC 🔵⚪️ pic.twitter.com/FETRz7tCsE