{"id":219370,"date":"2020-05-18T15:26:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T19:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=219370"},"modified":"2020-05-18T15:26:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T19:26:52","slug":"cuban-doctors-in-lombardy-here-we-go-again-roberto-arias-says-every-morning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/cuban-doctors-in-lombardy-here-we-go-again-roberto-arias-says-every-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Cuban doctors in Lombardy: \u201cHere we go again,\u201d Roberto Arias says every morning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roberto Arias Hern\u00e1ndez is 28 years old, has an eleven-month-old baby in Cuba and is part of the medical contingent providing aid in northern Italy. There he is fighting against the COVID-19. \u201cWe are simply doctors and today we have had to play our role more than ever,\u201d he told AFP in an interview that is already being reproduced by several media in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fighting a pandemic and we are the ones who act in the face of this situation,\u201d he said. The conversation takes place shortly before starting his day at the Crema hospital, in the heart of Lombardy, the region hardest hit by the new coronavirus.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe Italian people\u2019s reception has been very warm. People hang posters on the windows of their houses with \u2018Thank you Cuba, thank you Cuba,\u2019\u201d says Roberto Arias, a Cuban doctor in Lombardy. Photo: AFP\/Miguel Medina, via France24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is Arias\u2019 first internationalist mission, although not for many of the 51 contingent specialists; more than half faced Ebola in Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cFear is always felt,\u201d he confesses: \u201cThe feeling is that you want to do it, but you are also afraid of not living up to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arias has been working non-stop since he arrived in Lombardy. The day begins with a visit to patients. He is accompanied by an Italian doctor and a nurse. They wear a gown, mask, glasses, transparent visor, double gloves.<\/p>\n

\u201cItalian doctors have a personality like that of Cubans. They are hearty, very happy, they all greet you, they thank you for being here. Some make their jokes. They have a very similar personality,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

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Roberto Arias Hern\u00e1ndez is part of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Italy made up of 37 specialists in medicine and 15 in nursing. Photo: AFP\/Miguel Medina, via France24.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For Arias, the morning schedule is the most difficult. \u201cWhen you are going to get out of bed is when you feel tired. But you reactivate your neurons and you realize that you came for this and that is what you are fighting for, you take a bath and say to yourself \u2018here we go again,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He confesses that he is moved when he hears the applause from the balconies and windows of the entire world dedicated to health personnel. \u201cEvery time we hear the applause we feel indescribable pride,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

This doctor does not have religious beliefs, but he affirms that \u201cto meet the main figure in the world who professes good would be really great,\u201d in the face of the possibility of being able to meet Pope Francis, who has not spared words of praise for the doctors, considered \u201cheroes\u201d in the face of the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Ya en sus puestos los m\u00e9dicos cubanos en Italia<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n