Echoes of San Fernando

Today's testimony comes to us from the Hogar de Ancianas de San Fernando in Chile. Thank you very much for your dedication and for bringing us closer to your mission. May the Lord continue to send you his strength to continue to make him present among these people who need him so much. In this way, every day you are making alive the call of the Lord: "As you did it to one of the least of these, you did it to me" (Mt 25, 40).

Echoes from the San José home

My experience in this old people's home San José, in this time of pandemic, I can say that I am very happy, because the director took all the necessary measures in time, such as restricting the visits of parents, volunteers and others who used to visit us. This has helped a lot to avoid contagion at home, and the measures that have been taken are also very strict, which has helped all of us. On a personal level, I have a lot of confidence in God who will protect us and nothing will happen. Suddenly even I am surprised at myself, at one time I would have been desperate, but now I fully trust in Him with the living hope that God will continue to protect us, and in my own opinion I feel that this happened to make us realise His constant presence in our existence and thus turn our lives, our eyes and our being to His infinite goodness and mercy.  Rosario Cayola (Chief of Staff) - Colombian

I am pleased to share with you my feelings regarding this pandemic withinhe home. In recent months I have been much more involved in the care of the residents, I have been able to get closer to each one of them, as their families have not been able to be near them, and I have tried to give them the best of myself, such as a smile and words of comfort to alleviate some of their pain.

I have also noticed that the household is very concerned about this situation and all measures have been taken to prevent this pandemic, which is reassuring for me and my colleagues.  Rosa Eliana RCA (elderly caregiver)

First of all, a cordial greeting, the aim of this document is to tell my experience and expectations of getting to know the staff, from the RCAs, head, deputy heads, cleaning staff, nurses, laundry and mainly the residents, since I arrived at this home it has been very positive, creating new expectations in the work of each day, I gradually got to know each of the residents, their state of mind, their anecdotes and the truth is that they are very nice moments and at the same time also difficult. At that time I was working without any problems, but this changed dramatically when the pandemic started, when I was working with a lot of tension, pressure and worry about contagion, both for me and for the residents. But in the home we took all the necessary measures, the training we have had guided us to have the knowledge and thus prevent, in the same way we used personal protective equipment, we also performed PCR on two occasions to rule out.

Within all these measures, I allude to the prayers to God that cannot be absent and thank Him who covers us with His mantle and who continues to protect us all and the whole world, thanks to sister Leonor who has done an excellent job and all her team that is the staff that we work with, with nothing more to add.Joana Barco RCA - Venezuelan.