It have been a difficult few months since the first Covid- 19 cases were detected in Cuba. The capital has been one of the places with the highest incidence of contagion so protecting its population is a priority. In this sense, several measures have been taken in order to prevent the spread of the disease, mainly in vulnerable groups.

The Directorate of the Humanitarian Affair of the Havana’s Historian Office (OHCH) has been a key institutions in this endeavor by using their spaces to care for and protect the elderly, contributing to the immunization process of the population in Old Havana. Recently sheltering in isolation dozen of infants, suspected of having Covid 19.

Approximately two weeks ago, the evacuation area of the former Belen Convent was set up by its staff to host in isolation more than 50 children and their caregivers, while awaiting for their PCR results.

The initiative, proposed by Perla Rosales, Deputy Director of OHCH and by the secretariat of the Cuban Communist Party was enthusiastically and promptly welcomed by the Belen Convent’s staff and by other OHCH directors guaranteeing in a short time the habilitation of this area with the possible comfort for the little ones and their family members, accompanying them during the isolation period, as stated to Habana Radio, Esther Ruiz Boffill, Director of the Humanitarian Affair of the Havana’s Historian Office(OHCH).

“We are Humanitarian Affairs of the OHCH, so we are characterized, precisely by the humanitarian work that is the most heartfelt social face of the office and we are always willing to help. We have to think- as our president says- first as a country, then as what we are, an entity of the municipality of Old Havana, and therefore of our population, so we were very pleased when they thought of our areas to take in those infants who are in a waiting phase and hopefully most of them will turn out to be negative to Covid-19. We welcome everything that should be done to support the population, our children, our elderly, and our people with some kind of disability and help them in any possible way”, added Ruiz Boffil.

For more than 16 months Belen Convent’s workers have attended to more than 50 senior citizens, providing their basics need through personalized assistance. Isolating suspected Covid-19 children within the facility does not constitute a risk for the elderly, thanks to the strict measures that have been taken, assures the center director.

“The area containing the children is well-delimited, well-closed, without communication, there is no interrelation; the Convent‘s workers created the conditions, providing the facility with the necessary means and resources that we had at our disposal. The access to this area is through Acosta Street and to access the home for the elderly in Belen we use Compostela Street. Our elderly continue to have their own caregivers system and they do not mixed with each other, we guaranteed that”.

It also accounts as a factor in favor of prevention that “both workers and elderly welcomed there have been immunized with the Abdala cycle and previously received preventive treatment with Biomoduline- T, the PrevengoVir drops that improves the immune system, with constant care and medicinal teas administration”.

“This has allowed that to date, none of our elderly or workers have been infected with Covid -19 and maintain the same care with the residential system by calling to isolation for health and life itself”.

While waiting and fighting at a national level to recover the daily routine and return the Convent protected elderly to their own daily activities, the institution, thanks to its staff work as well as the Health Staff, continues to deploy humanitarian actions for the care and attention of children and elderly, two population groups that have been and will always be a social priority for OHCH.

Source: Habana Radio