- Fuenlabrada.The longest debut in the world
Soccer doctors have been in constant alarm since February. Without a rest. "Not a day off," says Juan Manuel Blanco of Fuenlabrada , a Second Division club. Like some of his colleagues, he has been divided between working in the hospital and managing a group of players confined at home and with many doubts. Tension in the consultation, hope in the video calls to the team and great care at home so as not to infect the family. It is exhausting to hear a day of these professionals, who have alternated for weeks the bubble of the ball - of young, strong and rich boys - with the chaos of consultations, ugly coughs, terror, the cascade of deaths and personal risk in each He passed.
The return of the League is looming now and they smile at the summer, everyone wanting to leave behind the worst nightmare that ever lived. But even today, and despite having read and heard so many health complaints since February, some testimonies from the direct protagonists of the pandemic still impact. Here are a couple of crude examples from Dr. Blanco:
"My first EPI suit in the hospital was one of the raincoats that Real Madrid gave up ."
"I was not tested for the coronavirus until the beginning of May."
Both revelations shake and define the painful situation they have suffered in the first line of defense against the disease. A doctor, an orthopedic surgeon in this case, who took care of infected injuries (they also broke bones in falls or stumbles), had to protect himself for many days with a simple plastic rain cap donated by the white club, the same ones that are delivered to the few fans of the Santiago Bernabéu who still have uncovered seats.
And this same doctor, like most of his colleagues, attended infected patients for weeks, worked for consultations and moved through the corridors of a hospital (the San Rafael in Madrid), converted to Covid , without being subjected to a test. The center's management, not the Ministry of Health or the Regional Ministry, was the one that finally took charge of the RCPs.
From Cuba to Fuenlabrada
"They sent us to war without a rifle," denounces Blanco, taking advantage of the war dialectic that the government's account has squeezed so much. "What LaLiga has done, tested everyone, is what administrations should have done long before. I do not understand that football, LaLiga , was criticized for fulfilling its obligation and taking care of its employees, the footballers and all those who work with them in the clubs, "he reflects. Fortunately, the virus has loosened now. It has less contagion capacity. Masks help. It is not understood either that they were not imposed from the beginning ».
But this Cuban doctor, with a thin accent and settled in Spain for more than 20 years, tries to stifle anger with positive messages, as he did every time he connected to the computer to chat with the Fuenlabrada staff. The coach, José Ramón Sandoval, wanted him on the air to cheer on the troops and he also has to answer questions. “Between patient and patient or in the operating room's rest room, the connections of the team entered. It suited me very well, it was a complete relief ... », he acknowledges of those frenetic days of March and April, when they confirmed that the hard flu that they had begun to detect in some patients in February was the runaway epidemic.
«Since I saw what was happening in Italy, I was aware of the situation. I lived through the influenza A epidemic [2009], its way of spreading, that butterfly effect. And I prepared the team to take action. At the beginning of March we traveled to play in Huesca and we already kept distances and carried gels. We also recommend supplementation of some vitamins in the diet that can help immunization. With what little we knew, we tried to protect ourselves. He saw himself coming, "explains the Fuenlabrada doctor, who also suffered - like most - from his panic.
Fear of contagion
“Many times I thought he had infected me. I was off guard in the hospital and I was feeling a headache. One morning, at home already, I got to set the temperature every 20 minutes, "he says. «I became obsessed with washing my hands, they have skinned me. There were times when the light is not seen, but there was no time for depression "reviewing Blanco, who also holds the post of secretary in the Spanish Society t raumatología of sport (SETRADE).
After two years with Fuenlabrada, he describes the dressing room as strong and with spirit. They have come out of the confinement with good legs to face the 11 outstanding League matches. The club, one of the most modest in Segunda, had to adapt at full speed and with its means to the demanding health framework imposed on football. “We spent sleepless nights to adapt the facilities. And the coaching staff has had to invent a new methodology when training. Now we are all connected to the system ».
In his opinion, thanks to the protocol and the fall of the virus on these dates, the championship can be ended. "Surely there will be some contagion, but it won't be March. That is, an infected person will not infect as many as before or with as much virulence. And it will be possible to continue with the matches ”, optimistic bet.
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