Home Features I cried almost every day after losing 7 relatives to COVID-19 –...
By Shemar Alleyne
As healthcare workers continue to battle the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), which has been hounding our healthcare system, often, these workers are under-appreciated for the daring role they play. 
Frontline workers could have been in lockdown like you and me in an attempt to safeguard themselves and families. But instead, they are the ones risking their lives in helping those infected with this deadly virus to get better.
For far too long, many persons have been falling prey to this disease, but according to Arlene Meertens, this pandemic has changed her life, and she is not sure if she can continue to work in the profession if there is a resurgence of the virus.
Meertens is 52 years old and has been in the nursing field for nearly 30 years and is currently a Patient Care Technician at hard-hit Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn.
Meertens grew up in Guyana, where she spent her entire childhood. She recalled as a young girl growing up, she would usually assist a visually impaired neighbour with chores, among other things. This had inspired her to join this noble profession after she migrated to the United States.
“I saw so many people on ventilators, I saw so many patients couldn’t move, couldn’t help themselves, I saw patients actually where their lips are bleeding just because they have to be intubated. I still speak to them, I am hoping that they can hear me when I am telling them to listen, I need you to fight, I need you to live, your family member needs you,” Meertens stated during an interview.
Further, she stated that “It is calm in the air right now; it is like what we haven’t experience in a long time. What took place in weeks feels like years.”
However, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), as of June 19, 2020, there have been 8,385,440 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 450,686 deaths. During an emotional interview, Meertens explained that she has lost seven family members to COVID-19.
“I would reach out and rub their hands, and I just rub their head, I think they can hear me, I think they can feel, and I think it makes a difference,” she stated as tears started to flow through her eyes.
Out of the 450,686 deaths, WHO reported that 2,149,166 are from the USA, and according to Meertens, every time she visits a COVID-19 patient, she could look at a patient and determine if they will die due to the way they look.
“It gets a point where I would actually look at patients and say to my co-worker, he is going to die. I just knew the way they looked – I just knew all the signs, they have this grey look. You know our skin has like a glow, but their skin no longer has that glow. Each and every time these patient dies, it hurts me more,” she posited.
Further, the technician stated she would usually play gospel to get through the day. Her favourite gospel is “I Give Myself Away,” by William McDowell.
“If I go into a room and I know through the mask, they are not going to hear me clearly, but as I listen to the song, I would try to sing for them so that they can feel a bit calm. So they wouldn’t have to be afraid or to think about the pain,” Meertens said, as she started to sing, I Give Myself Away.
Recollecting on her journey thus far dealing with COVID-19, Meertens stated that she has cried all day since the coronavirus hit the USA. As such, she said that if another strain is to hit the country, she is not sure if she would be able to “hold up.”
“Now that they are talking about opening back the city I know we have to go on, but I am so afraid if we really do have a second weave what’s going to happen and I am trying that it is not so because I don’t know if I can hold up. I am saying to myself; I don’t want to watch people die within minutes. I don’t know if I can do it,” she concluded.
