Playing caring, loving mothers to coronavirus patients

We have been a witness to the best and the worst of human behaviour in the pandemic. Some have emerged heroes from the crisis who have put their lives at risk to help others; there have still been instances of Covid survivors putting their recent pain and trauma behind to lend a helping hand to those who needed assistance.

On the occasion of Mother's Day, The Hans India interacted with heroes who have recovered from Covid and have now pledged to save lives.

After her recovery from the dreaded virus, mother of three, Usha Mohan, Founder Director of The Green School Bangalore, joined KA IVF Foundation to help Covid patients to get oxygen beds.

"2020 was a roller coaster ride for me health wise. I was having strange inflammations from April 2020 and I was constantly on medication for gastritis which I never had. I went to the hospital for my endoscopy test when I found out in October 2020 that I had coronavirus. I did not develop breathing problems or any such issues but cold and body pain. I overcame Covid with antibiotics but it's the side effects of the infection which makes you suffer," Mohan recalled.

She has now taken two doses of vaccine. "Even last year during the lock down my institution The Green School Bangalore had joined hands with Foodies Delight to provide food to the needy. We could cater to 4,000 people per day and raised funds amidst the chaos. But during this second wave I could see a lot more chaos for beds, oxygen and medicines. I felt just forwarding messages to save people is not going to help. So joined hands as a volunteer with a team called KA IVF, started by Pritam Aggarwal and started helping patients. Then I knew how to do this so I started doing this on my own by calling 108 and 1912. The response from BBMP has been great," Mohan stated.

She is approached by the people for plasma, oxygen or ICU beds. "Earlier I used to get 10 calls and messages for general and ICU beds and I could see that the KA IVF team used to get more than 100 messages. Now, I receive two to three requests for the requirements and I think people are more aware of oxygen concentrators and medication. A few very critical patients whose oxygen saturation is below 50 becomes an SOS call for us. It does stress us out but when the patient gets the medical attention, we are happy," Mohan said. 5For her volunteering is immensely satisfying. "We can only do this much but I want to congratulate the entire medical fraternity - doctors, nurses and health workers - who have been working relentlessly. We need to drive home the message to people to stay home, stay safe and wear a mask.

All should take vaccinations to create herd immunity faster," she advised. For Dr Radha Gubbihal, Public Health Dentist with VS Dental College & Hospital, her son is among several Covid positive patients she has to attend to. Asked how she is balancing her time and attention between her son and other patients, she said, "As a doctor, we are normally well trained to handle emotional situations and be tough and neutral. However, irrespective of all the training, we have our weak moments especially when your family members have to deal with issues like Covid.

We do have an advantage of knowing and understanding the subject better to handle the crisis with minimal damage. We try to balance between work and family. It is quite challenging and drains you out. The successful handling of Covid cases, be at work or family, is a huge encouragement for us to work harder and give our best."