July 30, 2021 — TVUP marked the first anniversary of its Stop COVID Deaths Webinars by holding a special episode entitled “COVID-19 Frontliners: Kamusta Na Kayo?” on April 23, 2021 . The forum’s main speakers were Dr. Anselmo Tronco, Chair, PGH Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, PGH Spokesperson Dr. Jonas Del Rosario, and  singer-composer Ardie Lopez. 

Hosted by Dr. Susan Pineda-Mercado and Dr. Raymond Francis Sarmiento, the 49th webinar kicked off with a heartwarming video of beloved frontliners who succumbed to COVID-19, to honor their bravery and selflessness in battling the pandemic. With the soulful voice of Dr. Kathlynne Anne A. Senen, a PGH pediatrician who died of COVID-19 singing the song “A Warrior is a Child” by Twila Paris, the video brought the hosts and audience to tears. 

Finding Meaning

Dr. Tronco’s talk entitled “Finding Meaning in Suffering, Uncertainty, and Fear” cited Victor Frankl’s “The Case for a Tragic Optimism” written after surviving the horrors of concentration camps during the Holocaust and a retelling of stories of five individuals who suffered great adversities. Dr. Tronco shared secrets on how to efficiently cope in this tough times: creating art, loving someone, and experiencing beauty and nature. He stated that virtues such as spirituality, helping one another, sharing resources, and enduring hardships together will enable us to find light in this crisis. 

To further illustrate his point, he quotes from the above piece, “From the smuck, the lotus blooms. So, in this miserable state that we have, what will emerge of it? It’s kindness, self-compassion, kindness for others; and simply put, loving one another”. He also emphasized that dealing with the pandemic is unique and specific to our personal circumstances, that is why coping can vary from one person to another. As Filipinos, our resilience will carry us through. 

Surviving COVID-19

Dr. Del Rosario shared his experience that started in July 11 last year when his father was admitted to PGH after testing positive for the coronavirus, and was joined a few days later by his mother who also was infected.  

The PGH spokesperson recalled that it was a hard experience for the family knowing the difficulty for COVID patients and senior citizens to be confined in isolation and with family members unable to care for them. “‘Yung Filipino way of taking care of a sick loved one, hindi mo magawa,” he said referring to the strict isolation protocols. Yet, he kept visiting his parents with PPEs on and two weeks later, he got infected as well. “Hindi mo talaga maiintindihan ‘yung suffering until you are in the same shoes,” the spokesperson said, recalling the experience of having severe COVID-19 symptoms. 

What made an already hard situation harder for the doctor was receiving news of his parents’ demise. “It was a very painful experience and what was more excruciating was not being able to see my parents’ remains and hug them for the last time.” 

Making sense of this experience, Dr. Del Rosario shared three things that renewed him: (1) finding things to be grateful for, (2) translating the painful experience into a mission, and (3) finding ways to commemorate his deceased loved ones. His COVID-19 journey made him a better Public Affairs Coordinator because it gave him a better understanding of the plight of individuals who get sick or lose a loved one. Dr. Del Rosario ended his presentation by singing a song entitled “Mahirap Magka-COVID.” 

An Anthem of Hope

Renowned singer-songwriter Archie Lopez composed the song, “I’ll Hold the Line” as an anthem for frontliners. Lopez, father of a doctor frontliner, expressed anxiety for the safety of his child. “As a parent, being helpless is one of the worst feelings ever especially if it is your blood, your child, that you’ve reared for a couple of decades, going out and facing this pandemic”. Yet, he remains vocal about his admiration for his child and other brave medical frontliners. Thus, to express his emotions and connect people to the everyday realities of frontliners, he wrote “I’ll Hold the Line.” This is a term used by military men during war, when soldiers hold each other to form a line in front of the enemy to prevent the enemy from conquering their camp. Lopez believes that in this pandemic, the same parallelism holds, the virus being the enemy and our frontliners protecting the camp from being conquered. 

The partial lyrics of the song go: 
The enemy remains unseen
I’ll keep your hand in mine
Let’s say your prayer one more time
I know you long for home
But I am here
You’re not alone
I’ll stay with you until the coast is there.

Francis Nicole G. Maga