They are the silent heroes of this crisis. They are the cleaning personnel of health care centers. Their discreet but fundamental work is vital to halting the spread of the coronavirus.
BENITA CHAPARRO
Custodian
“We aren't just the cleaning people. We're cleaning professionals, and very good professionals.”
Benita Chaparro is 60 years old. She has spent more than half her life working at the Principe de Asturias hospital in Madrid.
BENITA CHAPARRO
Custodian
“Hospital cleanliness and general cleanliness are very important. It's an important war at every level. If that final line of defense—cleaning—doesn't work, doesn't respect technicalities, doesn't follow protocol, the virus could spread so much more. We're the 'firebreak' preventing the virus from spreading.”
One of the companies to lend this service is Clece. Its workers describe this health emergency as an opportunity to express solidarity.
MARÍA JOSÉ GIMENO
Custodian
“The other day, I was in a room, disinfecting the floor, and I noticed it was 8 p.m., the time set aside for 'applause.' So I saw the patients leave their rooms to stand at the door. There was a man with an IV, and they started to applaud me. That stuck with me. I was touched.”
For weeks, they have been working under tremendous pressure and stress, to guarantee that hospitals are in good conditions to treat coronavirus patients. They stand on the front line with doctors and nurses.
The entire staff stays strong, despite the toll of working such long hours.
That day, Lotti and I worked together. We were especially tired and discouraged, and we had to tell someone.
In that moment, I remembered the piano in the hospital. I said to myself, 'Come on, let's go play! Everything will pass!'
After the first improvised notes I thought of 'Imagine.'
I thought of sharing this special moment with my husband, so we recorded it.
Our message is, 'Together...
...we will make it!'
It's in that way, singing through tears of emotion and pain, that they start to imagine the moment when they will all be able to hug one another again.
Daniel Díaz Vizzi
Translation: Claudia Torres
