As the COVID-19 pandemic reached its apex in Italy, crippling the country鈥檚 health-care system, South Surrey鈥檚 Sheila Vicic, 57, boarded a medical relief plane and flew into the heart of one of the world鈥檚 most clinically burdened regions.
Vicic鈥檚 plane landed at a military base near Cremona, located in the Lombardy region of northern Italy on March 17. The day she arrived, the country reported 3,526 new cases of COVID-19 and 345 new deaths.
In contrast, when she left B.C. March 15, the province recorded only 15 new cases.
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Vicic, who spoke to Peace Arch News Monday, spent nearly two months in Cremona, doing operational and administrative duties out of a 14-tent emergency relief field hospital built by Samaritan鈥檚 Purse. Vicic was one of 19 Canadians deployed to the city.
At the time, Cremona鈥檚 hospital was struggling to keep up with the influx of COVID-19 cases. When she arrived, approximately 20 per cent of the hospital鈥檚 COVID-19 patients were health-care workers.
Not realizing the gravity of the situation until she experienced it first-hand, Vicic said she was struck by how an entire city was 鈥減aralyzed by fear.鈥�
鈥淢y fear with COVID arose when I got there and saw how paralyzed and fearful the people were around me. The town of Cremona was literally a ghost town. There were no children. The only two sounds were church bells and ambulances. It was an apocalyptic feeling,鈥� she said.
She described the social isolation as much more stringent and vigorously enforced than in Canada, and people took the precautions seriously.
Over the course of two months, Vicic says the cloud of anxiety and fear that hung over health-care workers started to dissipate.
鈥淚t was very, very fearful. That was one of the great changes I think we saw, was that there鈥檚 still vigilance, but the fear had changed to have courage, to have hope, and even confidence that, OK, we got this. We have a plan and we鈥檙e working through it.鈥�
At the time the field hospital was built, the Cremona Hospital wasn鈥檛 able to keep pace with the number of patients needing serious aid.
鈥淲e kind of watched their flattening of the curve鈥� As the hospital restored their capacity to do their own thing, it鈥檚 important for us to leave because their normal is not us in their parking lot,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e started to see that they were able to handle their seriously ill. They were, a bit, starting to open some of their other services. And that鈥檚 when we knew it was a good time for us to leave.鈥�
The relief hospital鈥檚 first patient was admitted on March 20, and the last patient was discharged on May 7. Vicic left the country May 12.
During those two months, the field hospital employed 310 people, treated 281 patients, and had 23 patients die.
Vicic, who was not on the medical side of the operation, didn鈥檛 interact with patients. She only knew of the deaths once she receive the hospital鈥檚 statistics and patient reports.
鈥淭hat was the day where you breathe shallow,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think one thing we all have taken comfort in is that even though people can鈥檛 be with their families during COVID, none of our patients died alone. They died with people holding their hands, people singing to them, praying over them, and with an iPad bringing their family into these moments as best we could.鈥�
However, Vicic said, staff celebrated patients when they were discharged.
鈥淓very patient that is discharged, we stand, and we clap, and we sing, and we wave. You see the triumph very easily. But when you have to deal with the people who have lost people, those are more sombre moments.鈥�
Now back in South Surrey, Vicic agreed with the notion that she has a new perspective on the global pandemic.
British Columbia has started moving into the second phase of reopening the economy. For some there is concern that a second wave of the pandemic is on the horizon.
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A return or resurgence of a virus as contagious as the novel coronavirus is imminent, health officials around the world have warned, based on other historic pandemics such as SARS in 2002, H2N2 pandemic in 1957 as well as the H1N1 influenza in 2009.
The 1918 Spanish flu, for example, returned in three separate waves, killing some 50 million people total. The second wave of the Spanish flu was more deadly than the first.
Vicic, who quoted B.C. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry鈥檚 daily catchphrase of 鈥渂e kind, be calm, be safe,鈥� indicated that she has confidence in B.C鈥檚 response to the pandemic.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e level-headed about it. I don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e fear mongering, which I think is good. People can listen to the information and not feel frightened, but feel vigilant. I prefer to think of us as vigilant and not fearful,鈥� she said.
鈥淎s we鈥檙e entering the next phase and start to open up, I just hope that we really do, as citizens of Surrey, understand who our vulnerable people are and how am I going to care for them?鈥�
The trip to Italy was Vicic鈥檚 seventh international deployment with Samaritan鈥檚 Purse.
In 2016-17, she worked out of the emergency field hospital in Iraq as the country waged in battle with ISIS to overtake Mosul.
She said she鈥檚 generally not afraid of working relief missions, even though in Iraq she could not only hear, but feel, exploding shells shake the ground.
鈥淚f fear was the reason you didn鈥檛 do things, then you鈥檇 miss out on life.鈥�
aaron.hinks@peacearchnews.com
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