Heartbreaking Month

By: Veronica Leighton

 

Heartbreaking is the word that describes our feelings for what is going on with our lives these days. Sad to say, our current lives (and no one is exempted) have been stricken with sudden changes that’s hard to fathom and we are all experiencing in a nightmarish-like scene from a horror movie. That’s our present, but the future remains more unfathomable with so much dread, scares and fears, and more projected nightmares.

We now live in the “new normal” of social distancing and self-isolation, if we are well at all, and have not been tested positive with Covid-19. If we’d be ever tested positive and go through the painful procedures of nose swabs, tracheal intubation, terrible aches and pains from head to toes, and the end-result of death (which more than 165,000 & counting, have succumbed to throughout the world), we pray to God that would not happen to us and to our loved ones.

I thought the Covid Grim Reaper’s visit would have spared some close friends or family but I was proven wrong when I received the sad news during deadline about the demise of very good couple friends of mine, Max and Rose Tosino, residents of Henderson, NV and former residents of Glendale Hts., IL., who both died the same week after testing positive with Covid19; 11 members of family tested positive, too. What a horrible, devastating news! A successful accounting professional, Rose was the owner (together with her partner, Lito Vitug, who also tested Covid positive) of four Jackson Hewitt accounting services in Nevada and Arizona. She devotedly helped me with her accounting expertise for the registration aspect of the Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame gala events for many years. I will miss both of you, dear friends, your laughter, thoughtfulness, generosity, kindness, and love and support that you have extended to your friends, family and many extended families.

Deserving a special mention, accolades and salute as a frontliner in the war against the Covid19 pandemic is Richie Gil, working as a Certified Critical Care nurse at the University of Chicago Medicine. Pictured here wearing his PPE Guerrilla Shield, his own design and workmanship.

To quote him, “I have seen first-hand the massive shortage of Personal Protective Equipments for Healthcare workers and First Responders who put at risk their own and their family’s safety to take care of patients in various healthcare settings, be it in the Clinics, Nursing Homes and Hospitals. It was like being sent to war without the appropriate battle-gears and ammunitions necessary for any soldier to win this health crisis battle.

I was vocal with my disappointment about this situation, I posted my thoughts in social media. Then, I realized if help was not coming fast enough, I should do something about it. If this was a war, what could I do to help in the fight rather than talking and writing about my disappointments and frustrations endlessly. Instead of waiting for answers and opinions about what the government should do, I started asking myself what could I do to help? Before this pandemic, the established best standard practice required for N95 masks to be disposed in between patients; during pandemic time, most of the Nurses I talked to were saying that their hospitals have policies changed due to the shortage and were just given one N95 to use for their shift, some said one for the whole week, and some are forced to just wear surgical masks even when they have patients suspected to be positive.

Since the N95 mask inventory was very low and soon to be depleted, I thought of augmenting our PPE arsenal with a full-face shield inspired by an expensive powered air-purifier respirator. I called my ventilated PPE The Guerrilla Shield as a homage to the brave Filipino soldiers who fought an irregular warfare alongside the American soldiers during World War II in the Philippines.

I thought if this Coronavirus Pandemic was a war, this was my way of taking up arms and help fight back. If this device, no matter how crude and imperfect, can save just one life, then I have rendered my service to the humanity.

I created a fund raiser to fund the project and to help with the Food Drive in my home town of Duenas and Iloilo City, Philippines, as the communities are affected by the mandatory social distancing lockdown.”

Besides being a capable and efficient professional nurse, Richie Gil is also known as the popular “Party Master,” for his DJing, hosting and organizing expertise in the Chicagoland area. He is the proud owner of his entertainment outfit. He is the recipient of Excellence in Entertainment 2016 award of the Chicago Filipino Asian American Hall of Fame.

Goodbye to my dearest friends Max and Rose Tosino who recently succumbed to Covid’s dreadful tentacles. Here’s hoping
and praying that the other members of your family who tested positive (11 of them) would be touched by the Almighty
God’s healing hands. Will surely miss you and our memorable happy days. Love you, may you both rest in peace.

Richie Gil, a nurse front-liner who took it upon himself to create a PPE “Guerrilla Shield,” shown above, when his
hospital met a shortage of the essential needs for healthcare professionals in order to protect themselves from Covid19.
He says, “This is my way of taking up arms and fight back, if this was a war!”.

Thanks so much to Ms. Christina Nonato, active member of our community, who immediately hand-made masks when she heard of the masks shortage at some nursing homes for seniors residents in the south side of Chicago. Together with her husband, Rey Nonato, they distributed some masks and gloves to the seniors in Chicago. Thanks so much for gifting us with your health goodies, too. Very much appreciated! (Follow Tina’s feature on pages 8-9, “Covid19’s Heroes”.