Letter to the director

Responsibility, a social need in times of COVID-19 pandemic

Esperanza Pozo Madera^{1  *} 

¹Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río. Pinar del Río, Cuba.

Mr. Director

Responsibility is the obligation to respond for the actions that someone does or others do. Liability is the obligation imposed by law.

In the presence of Covid-19, which affects 184 countries in the world, including our own country, people aged 60 or older, who are carriers of other associated diseases, constitute vulnerable groups.

In the District No-103 of Hermanos Cruz Neighborhood, in Pinar del Río city, the representative of the People’s Council, the social worker, along with political and mass organizations in coordination with the family doctors and nurses who medically support and assist the territory; put into practice the measures designed by the leadership of the country. Prevention work is taken within our district with a group of initiatives such as: sanitary hearings concerning family protection, with emphasis on individual and collective responsibility, correct hand washing, care of hygiene in the near settings, cleaning of stairs and handrails, as well as the surroundings of buildings; the use of hypo-chlorine and cleaning of shoes at the entrance of each apartment.

It was impressive the response of the neighbors of all ages in the donation of indispensable resources for the manufacture of protective masks, which were delivered free to the inhabitants and other sectors, in addition to promoting the proper use of this means of protection, adding the need of the social distancing (Stay Home), as well as the support given to the medicine and dentistry students in the daily screenings they conducted.

A gesture of solidarity and humanism, of all proof, has been the seven young persons, members of the sanitation brigades and as the activists of the Cuban Federation of Women who have been working to provide care for vulnerable groups, such as people living alone or in couples without a close presence of a family member.

This work is intended to fill the gap left by the absence of the family. There are 74 old people in the area, them all over 60 years old.

The work carried out allowed a greater rapprochement between younger and older people, thus creating intergenerational links where help is needed for the acquisition of food, medicines and personal cleanliness products. The active participation of graduate-retired nursing personnel who live in the neighborhood had a significant influence, as they contributed to their experiences for the benefit of the community, and the achievement of the targeted measures. All these measures were designed to encourage the prevention and mitigation of Covid-19 in the area, to avoid the positive cases.

People expressed satisfaction with the service given, which shows the importance of discipline and responsibility for the care of human beings in a coordinated intergenerational work.

We reaffirm the need to maintain, once the pandemic is over, the recovered values and the coordinated actions among neighbors and formal and natural leaders of the community; which in our area was put up under the slogan: "With the value of hope to be ready to lend a hand and in good health".

Received: May 11, 2020; Accepted: May 12, 2020

^* Autor para la correspondencia: [e-mail]