Gratitude, hope, love for our fellow people, and solidarity, bringing light to the darkness of the pandemic, flooded the Online Event titled ‘Heroes of the ICUs – Heroes of our Heart’, organised by the ‘ELPIDA – Association of Friends of Children with Cancer’ on Tuesday 9 February 2021.
At the initiative of the Association’s President, Mrs Marianna V. Vardinoyannis, ‘ELPIDA’ wanted to express its endless GRATITUDE to the doctors and nurses of the Intensive Care Units, those heroes who have been fighting a gruelling battle against the pandemic for a whole year.
“In this deep darkness, everyone’s heart and soul are desperately seeking light. The hope that we will make it and that this terrible adventure will soon be over. A hope that is not an abstract concept for the whole of Greek society; it now has a face:
The face of every doctor and nurse that struggles on a daily basis in the Intensive Care Units for life to be victorious. YOUR FACE! In my eyes, you are true heroes. Because you have gone beyond the role science gave you. You have become supporters, family for those people who are called upon to face what will perhaps be the most difficult battle of their life, far from their loved ones, alone.
YOU are holding our societies together right now and your example gives us all strength and courage.
We humbly bow before you. On behalf of the entire ELPIDA family, I would like to express our gratitude and admiration”, mentioned Mrs Vardinoyannis, clearly moved, at the beginning of the event.
In fact, Mrs Vardinoyannis announced that the ‘ELPIDA’ Association decided to send a symbolic ‘Medal of Love and Gratitude’ to all the ICU doctors and nurses in Greece, to thank and honour them for their great efforts.
“Our Association’s decision to provide all ICU workers in Greece with a symbolic ‘Medal of Love and Gratitude’, is nothing compared to everything you do every day. It is a small token of recognition of your contribution. I want to believe that every one of our medals, the medals of ‘ELPIDA’, holds within it a great big “thank you” from Greek society. From the bottom of my heart, and on behalf of the entire ‘ELPIDA’ family, and most of all the children and their families, who know what it means to “struggle for life”, thank you!” Mrs Vardinoyannis said.
His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens and All Greece, as well as his Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durrës, and All Albania, addressed the event, expressing their warmest thanks to the ‘Heroes of the ICUs’.
In his message, Archbishop Ieronymos stressed that those working in ICUs embody the true meaning of charity: “During the pandemic we saw altruism, self-denial, and empathy stand out. We saw it in many, but I must stress that we mainly saw it in the people working in our hospitals’ intensive care units. I have already stated that these people forget they exist, so that we can exist. That is true charity. Charity with the full conceptual meaning of love. An honest and sacrificial love. Something of Love indeed, of Christ himself. These are strong words, but I feel they are fair”.
On his side, Archbishop Anastasios mentioned his own health scare and thanked the staff of the ICU at ‘EVANGELISMOS’ hospital: “Besides our warmest thanks, we would like to send you our most sincere prayer, that God of patience and supplication will strengthen your resilience and guide the mind and heart of all those struggling to treat the ill, and discover new methods to successfully deal with this incredible challenge. The Covid-19 pandemic that is distressing the entire world will be defeated through solidarity of all the peoples of the world and a mobilisation of love. We have all been called upon to participate in this struggle, to the degree that it is our responsibility and to which we are capable”.
The Vice-President of the European Commission for the Promotion of the European Way of life, Mr Margaritis Schinas also addressed the event. He congratulated Mrs Vardinoyannis for her important initiative, he thanked the ICU staff for their contribution wholeheartedly, and he spoke of his own experience while being hospitalised with the coronavirus: “This event is a small token of recognition of the real heroes of this health crisis: the doctors, nurses, support staff, all those who, with self-denial, for months have been on the front line of the battle to save lives. And this is coming from someone who unfortunately, like many of our fellow people, had the terrible experience of the coronavirus in a hospital bed… To those of you who return to your homes at dawn, after exhausting hours of being on call, and cannot even embrace your family. Thank you all for your incalculable contribution of humanity and solidarity… Europe is at your side”.
Minister of Health Vassilis Kikilias congratulated Ms Vardinoyannis in his address, and he expressed his thanks on behalf of the Greek Government and the Ministry of Health, while he thanked her for ‘ELPIDA’s’ symbolic gesture of sending a ‘Medal of Gratitude and Love’ to all the doctors and nurses of Greece: “It is a great honour to welcome Mrs Vardinoyannis’ initiative. I respect her and honour her for her work and the work of the ‘ELPIDA’ Association all these years, at the side of children in need, their families, at the side of human suffering, at the side of those who cannot or have not. Mrs Vardinoyannis, we thank you on behalf of the Greek Government and the Ministry of Health for your noble contribution over the years. Today you are taking one more step, expressing your thanks to all ICU staff members in Greece by sending this symbolic ‘Medal of Gratitude and Love’. A great big “well done and thank you” to you and, of course, to all the people fighting this invisible enemy”.
In turn, Professor of Health Policy and Director of LSE Health Mr Elias Mossialos referred to the work of Mrs Vardinoyannis and the ‘ELPIDA’ Association and stressed that it is “recognised by all of Greek society”. As regards the handling of the pandemic in Greece, Mr Mossialos stated that the “Public Health System was forced to deal with the pandemic after being “injured” by a ten-year financial crisis”, however he pointed out that “we are better off than we were a year ago”. As regards the course of the pandemic, Mr Mossialos stated that we “need to hang in there a little longer. There is intense fatigue, but if we hang in there for a few more months, we will start to see light at the end of the tunnel and the measures will be eased”.
In his address, Professor of Haematology-Oncology, Dean at UOA Mr Athanasios-Meletios Dimopoulos, spoke of the important results of the ICUs of the UOA School of Medicine during the pandemic: “This period has tested Greece’s health system, but it also highlighted the strength of the UOA School of Medicine. The School of Medicine’s three ICUs played an important role in finding approaches in treating this disease. We have now reached a point at which we can say that, yes, the patients that require ICU hospitalisation can recover, and we have survival rates that can be compared to the best results in the world”, while Mr Dimopoulos congratulated ICU employees throughout Greece.
The central speaker at the event was Professor of Pulmonology and Critical Care at UOA Ms Anastasia Kotanidou, who made a speech on: ‘The world of the ICUs: Data-experiences-needs. The day after’. Ms Kotanidou, on behalf of all ICU staff members in Greece, thanked Mrs Vardinoyannis and the ‘ELPIDA Association’ for their initiative, and spoke in detail about how ICUs operate. She stated that they are the “heart of hospitals, without which we cannot have a strong health system”. “What made the greatest impression on me from the early days of the pandemic was the sense of duty, the lack of fear, and the responsibility with which this situation, this unknown situation, was dealt with by all my colleagues: doctors, nurses, physical therapists”, said Ms Kotanidou, referring to the ICU staff who have been working under extreme pressure throughout this time. Ms Kotanidou also referred to private initiatives that supported the public health system throughout the duration of the pandemic, while she stressed that an intense feeling of solidarity has spread throughout society during this period, and that each of us, “regardless of their capabilities, made an effort to help those around them”. At the same time, Ms Kotanidou underlined that “society and politicians have learned to listen to scientists”, while she spoke in detail about the changes that need to be made to improve ICUs, specifically to improve the number of nursing staff, hiring doctors specialised in critical care, and upgrading ICU medical-technical equipment.
The floor was then given to doctors and nurses from Intensive Care Units from all of Greece, who spoke about their experiences, their concerns, and their expectations, causing deeply emotional responses with their inner strength and their struggle for the last year against the “invisible enemy”.
Ms Eleni Aimoniotou, National Health System Specialist Registrar I, at ‘AGIOS DIMITRIOS’ General Hospital ICU spoke from her heart about her most powerful memories from the difficult period of battling the pandemic: “Unfortunately I will never forget the patients I lost, and there were a lot of patients lost in the second wave. I have cried too many times for these patients, because they were lost en masse in the second wave. Fortunately, there were patients who survived. I will never forget them either. I will never forget their eyes, their gratitude, their concern, and their first words when we extubated them, their thanks. I will never forget my 5-year-old daughter when I saw her after being separated for about two months during the first wave, how much older she seemed when I held her. I will never forget being informed by the Hospital that my test was negative and that I could emerge from “my nest” and see the rest of my family. I will never forget how violently my personal and professional life changed.
Ms Eleni Pantelidou, BSc, MSc, Director of Nursing Service at ‘Ippokrateio’ Thessaloniki General Hospital referred to the loneliness of patents struggling with COVID-19: “Patients feel terribly lonely. They do not see their loved ones, just people in space suits. But these space suits are the people covering all the needs of these patients, from the slightest to the greatest. Among those needs is the need to communicate. They use tablets to help the patients speak with their loved ones”.
Mr Evangelos Liatsikos, Professor of Urology, Director of the Medical Service of ‘PANAGIA I VOITHEIA’ General University Hospital of Patras, described his experience at Patras Hospital, which was one of the first hospitals in Greece called upon to treat COVID-19 cases. “I will never forget the first panicked telephone call. A bus arrived with a case and everything had to change at once. A situation had to be organised, and suddenly we had to go into war mode. I will never forget that”.
Ms Militsa Bitzani, Pulmonologist, Intensive Care Specialist, MD, PhD, Coordinator-Director of the 1st ICU of ‘G. PAPANIKOLAOU’ Thessaloniki General Hospital described the motivation behind the selfless action of ICU staff members: “To an extent it is momentum carrying us. However, the results always provide us with such great joy, the feeling of being rewarded. At the moment when you extubate a patient and hear them say their first words, the joy you feel is enormous. It is like an internal explosion of emotions. This pushes you to experience it again”.
Ms Fotini Fligkou, Professor of Critical Care, ICU Scientific Director, General University Hospital of Patras, spoke of the moral satisfaction of a patient surviving and stressed how strengthening ICUs with more beds throughout this period should remain a priority after the conclusion of the pandemic.
Ms Effrosyni Tsouraki, Nurse at ‘O Agios Georgios’ Chania General Hospital, who volunteered her services at a Thessaloniki Hospital, explained how she voluntarily decided to travel from Crete to Thessaloniki, to help deal with the pandemic: “I thought to myself, I studied nursing and I have been working for 25 years to protect life. Furthermore, I firmly believe in solidarity and that each of us must put themselves at the service of those suffering. That is what I thought, and I felt that I truly had a moral obligation to go beyond my limits. What I want to say is that doing your duty is not the hardest thing. The hardest thing is knowing, each time, where your duty lies”.
Immediately after her, two recovered patients took the floor and spoke about their experience in the tough and lonely battle that coronavirus patients are called upon to fight.
Ms Anna Rokofyllou, Lawyer, President of the Culture, Sports & Youth Organization of the City of Athens, was very emotional as she spoke about the support she received from the Evangelismos ICU staff, and she stressed that “our era’s heroes are the ICU doctors and nurses”, and Mr Kostas Kostis, Professor of Economic and Social History at the Economics Department of University of Athens, Author, described the difficult emotions that try the mental state of coronavirus patients.
Moved from the heartfelt words of all these people, Mrs Vardinoyannis thanked each of them separately for everything they do on a daily basis, because, as she characteristically said, “they teach us what it is to be Human”.
The event was moderated by journalist Mihalis Kefalogiannis.
You can watch the entire event at the following link:
