From West Bengal, Gopal Pareek has been doing 24 hours of on-off duty for a person who is recovering from a stroke. Healthcare at Home, the company that he works with, has been providing him and the rest of their staff with transport. “Some houses, especially where it is just an elderly couple, have a separate room for nurses. But in other cases, we offer transport for nurses to go to the patients’ homes,” says Unit Head Meraz Sheikh. “Since we want to limit exposure, we have 24-hour shifts so that homes will have to receive one person per day.”
The home that Gopal visits has just two bedrooms.
“One room is for the patient, and the rest of the three members of the family — his wife, and two sons — have to adjust in the other room,” says Gopal.
In cramped spaces, when living together for a long period of time, they have no other option but to live like a family, he adds.
His own family is in Bikaner, Rajasthan, while he lives in a hostel, provided by Healthcare at Home for their many staff members who come from the interior parts of West Bengal and Bihar.
“My family is very worried. Before this epidemic, they would call me once a day. And now if they don’t hear from me in four hours, it is a direct video call!”
Back in West Bengal, he says, the family he lives with was not completely trusting of him, initially.
“They would ask me questions they knew the answers to, because they wanted to check if I was good at my job. But eventually they started respecting me,” says the 24-year-old.
Now it is not just their father’s health that they enquire after; the two sons, not much elder to Gopal, share stories from their lives with him, and ask after Gopal’s family.
“For the first few days, I sat outside the patient’s room and had my food alone, but now we eat together at the dinner table,” he says.
Respect Doctors, Nurses, Hospital Staffs, Police and Army for being vigilant at all times. Even Doctors and Nurses have tested Positive for COVID-19 by trying to cure the patients infected by COVID-19. Respect 🙏
Respect Doctors, Nurses, Hospital Staffs, Police and Army for being vigilant at all times. Even Doctors and Nurses have tested Positive for COVID-19 by trying to cure the patients infected by COVID-19. Respect 🙏
