A nurse in the jubilee: Faith helps to provide the best of ourselves

Sebastian Samson Ferrari – Vatican City

“When you see a lot of death, you see a crisis, you see that you do not control the disease and that you do not know that you are afraid, but in this context, faith is necessary to work with the certainty that God was with me.” Thus, the Spanish Catholic nurse, Rossio Bilido Octavio, from the University of San Jorge de Zarqasa, has sparked her faith in times of crisis. He did this in a meeting with the journalists organized by the Press Office of the Holy See on Friday, April 4, a few hours after the jubilee for patients and the world of health.

Bellido shared his experience in fighting Covid-19, especially in its beginnings, when the health system was steeped in ignorance of the disease and the constant threat of death. During those months, a young health specialist worked in a reference hospital in Madrid due to infectious diseases, where patients with Covid-19 were treated with extremist measures, similar to those taken before treating diseases such as Ebola.

“The situation was very complicated. Hospitals and excessive emergency situations have collapsed, and the lack of air inside the hospital was clear,” said Rossio. In this scenario of the overwhelming and fear, not only physically, but also emotional and psychologically, Iman Rossio has become an essential tool for dealing with adversity.

“What cost me more than others in the beginning is to understand that we were unable to control everything. The situation was not hopeless, but it was desperate. We had to find the light in the dark, because despite everything, death felt in every corner of the hospital.” For her, faith was not a solution to everything that happened, but the power that gave her peace and confidence to continue. He added: “Faith did not help me understand the situation, as this helped me to manage it, to get strength when I no longer had them, to take a breath when I felt I was missing.”

Rockyo explained that despite the profession crisis that many health professionals lived during the top of the epidemic, he allowed him to not lose his path. “She gave me the courageous faith to go to work at every turn, to move forward in moments of uncertainty. In those moments of anguish, I resorted to the hospital chapel, a place that was usually closed. It was my mine, a space in which I could ask for my patients, and for the colleagues in the classroom, and myself.”

Throughout those days, I realized that the decisions made in emergency situations were not always the best, especially in critical areas such as the ICU and emergency units. This lack of control, along with emotional pressure and extreme fatigue, created the profession crisis in many professionals. However, hope began to spread, especially in the upper moments of patients who have been admitted for a long time. “Those did not reunite the patients who were retrieved were the moments that, recently, I saw a flash of hope,” he said.

When looking back, Rocío reflected on what the epidemic experience left. “Today, my heart is still full of hope. I think we were more cautious and more, and it could have saved many lives,” he said. The nurse added that this experience has done to better understand the role of faith in daily life, not only in the hospital, but also in her well. “It is necessary for them to take care of the toilets. They take comfort times, exercise, and to eat in good health, and above all, to search for moments of prayer and thinking,” he said.

Bilido shared his message to young people, and encouraged them to find hope in joy and certainty that God always exists. “I am looking for God in reality, not on a mobile phone. In nature, in silence. We need moments of peace, to separate the routine to meet him,” he said.

In this jubilee of patients, Rocío Bellido Octavio does not transmit his personal experience in faith and hope, but also a message of humanity, mutual care and flexibility. “Faith helps us to survive, to accompany better than us, even in the darkest moments,” and concluded his saying. His testimony is a light lighthouse for all health professionals and for all who are looking for strength in moments of despair.