May 3, 2022 • 33 mins
Walter Merino, Terence Abram, and Dr. Sara Velasco are all essential workers who went above and beyond to take care of their communities during the height of the pandemic. Walter Merino runs the Olé Soccer Club, where he coached young players from afar and made sure that even if they weren’t on the field, their team had their back. Terence Abram is an occupational therapist at a nursing facility in Los Angeles, who was there for his patients even when their families could not be. Finally, Dr. Sara Velasco has been a family physician for over 40 years and kept up her duty of care when her families needed her the most.
Learn more about Olé Soccer Club: http://www.olesoccer.org/
Episode Transcript: https://app.trint.com/public/72d513c6-25a8-4eb2-b2d5-cb4c1639c69d
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, Mr. Hello Wilmer. We're going full hello now just
high so you can see we're changing things up on
the show. Just shows you how much we've grown through
this experience. Mr. I mean I feel just about ready
to retire if I'm being honest. How about you? Never never,
never retired and never quitted? What are we up this week?
(00:25):
So any listener who's been with us since the beginning
knows that our goal has always been to broaden our horizons,
specifically about who we view as an essential worker. As such,
it shouldn't be a surprise that there were way more
incredible stories and we could fit into all of our
episodes exactly. And since we are getting close to the
end of the stretch of the journey, we wanted to
(00:45):
take a moment to shine the spotlight on three of
our remaining essential voices. First up, we're going to hear
from Essential Worker Walter Marino. He's a soccer coach with
the Olea soccer club who didn't pause his role as
coach even when his players couldn't hit the field. The person.
He'll talk to us about how his soccer club rallied
and why he thinks soccer is an essential part of
(01:05):
the community. Hi, my name is Walter Medino from ol
a soccer club based out of the San Fernando Valley.
I'm the director of the club, also a coach and
a person that really tries to get back to our
local community place. You're talking to you, man, you know.
I actually when I first came to the United States,
(01:27):
I you know, I didn't have any friends, right because
I don't know how to speak English, you know. So
the first thing I did was, you know, I signed
up to you know, to the San Fernando Soccer League,
you know, and I played with Salvadorians with him tacos.
He kind knows from everywhere, you know. And the thing
that was really crazy is that my dad was the
(01:47):
coach of our team. And man, that sucked. Your dad
is a coach. Man. That's so you don't want the example, bro,
Like they they said, you know, you're you make one mistake,
he sits down. Everybody was makes three mistakes, they get
another try, you know, and you go, I go, Dad,
why are you sitting me down? He made three mistakes.
I only made one on the field, and he said, um,
(02:09):
he said, well, you're at the sound of the coach. Yeah,
it's suck, man, But hey, how you get it? How
you get into this? Man asked a good question. So
I've played as long as I remember, you know, from
watching my dad except on the field, to being on
the field, to having my my uncle's play, my family
(02:29):
just every week, and we knew we were going to
be on the field. So just being around it, being
immersed in that environment, you just start to pick it
up and you grow the passion and love because as
you see him on the field, and that's what you
want to do. So I played club. I grew up
playing in the San Fernando Valley really, and then I
transitioned to playing high school, playing college, and after college roughly,
(02:50):
I said, you know, I think my my days of
going pro, I think it might have been stopped. You know,
it wasn't as good as I thought. Maybe, And so
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go back
and I want to go back to my high school.
I want to Kennedy High School and Gronada Hills. I'm
gonna go and say, you know what, how can I
how can I help? I want to be a coach
and just try this out to see if I can
help these new kids coming up to offer them something.
(03:12):
Then you give kids from your own your own community
there an opportunity to play and potentially get exposed to
open more doors to potentially do what I did. You know,
get an education, go to a better school, potentially use
your talent to get a potential degree. You know, you
just you just don't know. So it's able to open doors.
So that's how I kind of stumbled into coaching. I
didn't think I was gonna be a coach. Mm hmmm.
(03:33):
Now that sounds amazing. I mean, I think it brings
me back to a lot of those days, you know,
when when you know that was that was where we
found community when I first came to the United States. Um,
you know, you don't know what to expect, and uh
in finding each other in that community was very empowering
for me, you know. And the thing that we had
in coming with soccer, you know, and is that the
(03:54):
one thing that you love so much about this thing, man,
is how how I could bring all of us together
in the one coming go Like when you're the field,
you're you're wearing the same jersey, you know exactly, and
you see that and then it's called the beautiful game
for a reason, right, It unites people, It brings people together.
It teaches you about not only soccer, but to teach
about life struggles, how to deal with diversity, you know,
(04:16):
how to have people around you, how to work as
a team. And then for kids especially, parents want to
involve their kids so much in sports because of what
it teaches other than just winning and losing. And a
trophy is great at all, but the person you become
to actually earn that trophy, right, the how you evolve,
you know, how you learn about hard work, discipline, having
(04:39):
a good attitude. You know, not only following directions, but
you know, working working to strive for something, right, the
person you become to be able to earn that and
finding your tribal I think you know human beings are
are being they're very tribal, right, so we try to
find who kind of connects with us. And then with
soccer especially, it brings people together, regardless of your race
(04:59):
or is your ethnicity's religion, etcetera. Like, people revolve around
this because it's it's so beautiful to see that, you know,
I mean, to your to your point, do you feel
like that's I'm sure this is that's one aspect that
you love about about what you do, you know, seeing
the community come together and seeing these kids blossom there
and I think the form of expression, you know, is
there is that the thing that you kind of feel
(05:21):
like you see the most and as you enter the
world that introduces you to a life change in situation
like a pandemic. How therapeutic and how you know, I
I look at I look at the psychology part of it,
you know, I look at like what what that sport
gives the community, and what it gives the family, and
then what it provides for the for the young you know,
(05:44):
person who's playing it. You know, So how did that
play out because I'm assuming there's tons of stories and
how these kids just really need to be on that
field with you. Yeah, yeah, And it was getting creative
on how to still connect with people in a safe
way when we had to shut the on for a
few months where you don't know what's happening, you don't
know if it's safe to be out there for you,
for your family. How can we still connect with these
(06:07):
kids that that probably their happiest, one of the happiest
times of the day is running out to that field
and being on the field and just express themselves and
their parents as well, like I need, you know, I
need some time to myself to like let them go
and do exercise and birds energy and be around other kids, socialized.
And I'm so proud of our of our staff, our
coaches that went above and beyond. Like our coaches said,
(06:29):
you know what, we understand where everybody's going through this,
but the kids need this more now than ever. To
be able to connect with them, they started doing zoom
sessions where they were practicing ball skills, they were going
over exercise, are going over tactics, they were going over
videos of games of how we can play. Things like
that were we still had them involved in the sport.
(06:51):
And what made me so proud is that the coaches
were like, we're not even gonna charge. What we want
to do is just help, Like I don't want anybody
to pay me, like nothing. They said out of their
heart because they know the kids they needed it. They said,
let's just do this, let's help, let's help. We're a
small club, but we focus on the quality that we're
trying to give these kids. The time there, the love
(07:14):
we give them, you know, the passion that we show
for them. So it just trickles down because you don't
know who's going to come out of this, you know,
in a in a way where you know you can
either mentally hurt them a lot by not being there.
Like I thought my coach was there for me. I
thought my teammates were there for me. But they're not
showing up right now. Where are they when we need
them the most? You know, where are they? Theyre just
(07:35):
what are they doing, you know, just sitting at home
doing nothing? No that we we couldn't be that club.
We couldn't be those coaches that weren't there for them
when they needed us the most. Was there an instant?
I mean, was there a moment for you that you thought,
you know, wow, this is as they say, essential, you know,
you know, because I'm sure that you have to take
a break for a second, right, I mean, the pandemic halls,
and I wonder what these conversations were likely be guys. Yeah,
(07:58):
for our staff, we were trying to get as creative
as we could, you know, with what whatever resources we had.
And then eventually we're just trying to say, hey, we're
just another day closer to being back on the field,
where another week closer and anxiety at the end of
the time though, yeah, exactly, even though we didn't know
win the back of mind, that's what the picture we
(08:18):
had to paint for them so that we can all
try to get by day by day. And it's a calling,
you know, not not for everybody, because not everybody wants
to be a coach, you know, like you know, you
know your dad dealing with your dad, it's like, you
know he did it. He probably did it because of you, right, um,
And secretly he wanted me to be a pro cycle player.
He thought that I said that a four t V
(08:40):
T and I still had a shot. I'm like, no,
my man, I think that boat sail, you know. And
we talked a lot about um leadership. We talked a
lot about uh, community coaches being coaches. Yeah, but a coach,
you know, especially comes to sports, isn't just isn't just
a coach. It's not about x's and ohs. It's not
about you know, winning the game. It's what impact you
(09:02):
really provide to these kids, to these more than just
a sport, right, what what are you trying to teach
a top of human beings? Are you're trying to really
raise and that's where I saw our our staff really
step up and be like you guys are real leaders
within your community, helping these kids, being there for them,
you know. And it takes everybody, takes a village, you know,
and that's what we try to We try to create
(09:23):
our own village, try to do it our way. And
you know, I'm super proud of of of everybody coming
together and just moving as one to understand the bigger
picture of what we were facing together. That's amazing, man,
and we you know, I I definitely I'm really intrigued
to kinda come back and once you guys start playing
again on Saturdays, bring my bring my cooler and my
bag of oranges, bro please. And that was beautiful. So
(09:47):
I just want to say thank you, man, because you know,
people like you that don't drift away too too far
from how essential you are to those communities, um that
really have paved the road for young many women to
grow up and be anything they want to be. Knowing
that organized you know, teamwork and getting up in the morning,
you when you don't want to, but then you get
(10:08):
out on the field and you're happy you did. You know,
there's so many different ways that the people can benefit. Man.
But thank you again for this conversation, and and I
really appreciate you man. Thank you Walmer, thank you so
much for having us on and sharing a little piece
about our little community. We'll be right back after this break.
Welcome back to Essential Voices. Walter's story is so great
(10:32):
because his role as a soccer coach is definitely not
the first role you think of when you hear Essential Worker.
But as he laid out, for these families, soccer is
essential for so many reasons beyond exercise or just having
a bit of fun. We're all just one day closer
to get him back on the field. I mean, what's
really the perfect messaging for that period of uncertainty? And
(10:53):
I can't imagine. You know, he gave his players so
much hope and gave me hope just hearing it. Next
will hear from Essential Worker Terrence Abraham. Terrence is an
occupational therapist at a nursing facility in Los Angeles. We'll
learn about how he got into occupational therapy and the
additional challenges that came with taking care of patients during
(11:16):
the pandemic. HI have anyame? Is Teren Abraham currently in
San Diego, California, and I'm an occupational therapy assistant for
a skilled nursing facility. Great, thank you so much. Man,
it's a less you to talk to you. So I
wanted to talk a little bit about your passions and
you know how you got into this and how long
(11:36):
you've been doing it. I've been only been doing it
for two years. Um. I actually got into it through
one of my college professors. She actually taught a class
on occupational therapy. She worked for special needs kids. She
had her own clinic, so she gave me the opportunity
to come like shadow her, come visitor when I could
just she was really flexible with my schedule so that
(11:57):
helped out a lot. And I really loved what she did.
It was just the church and she just worked with
a few kids, just gave him after school program, just
something to keep them occupied, something to continue to help
them grow. And that kind of sparked my interest in
occupation therapy. Something about that, I'm sure it made you
really passionate. Is there an instant that when this is
(12:17):
why I'm in this? A little bit different? So I
started with kids there and I did. I love the kids,
their energy, They're always so funny, energetic. It's always fun
to play. I think for me though, currently I work
in a skill nursing facility and my grandma has actually
been through numerous back surgeries, so I can put her
(12:38):
face on every patient or resident that I'm approaching and
saying like if she was in a facility, how would
I want her to be treated? It was definitely something
personal to me, and then I can continue to pay
it forward to other people so they know that their
love wounds are in good hands. What does it take
to be Terrensted? You know, on a daily basis, you
get up, you know, you do the work, customer lot
of stuff, and then once you're get in the car
(12:59):
and you on your way to work, you know, what
is your day look like? Uh? So I get there.
We normally have a list of patients to see, could
be like tender show patients. We're given name, you know,
room number, the minutes I got to see them for,
and then like just like special things, you know, are
they in a cafe, are they on oxygen? Just a
little things to keep in mind as you're going forward
(13:21):
with the treatment. And from there then I started actually
seeing the patients, so it can be anything from you know,
starting with some upper body strengthening. Balance is a big
thing for the elderly population. A lot of falls, so
definitely their activity talents, making sure their endurance is up.
You know, they used to go shopping and I have
(13:43):
to take a break, and nowadays they do one thing
and they're a little tired. So just constantly educating them
about their current situation and keeping them safe, you know,
to help them keep that independence for living their life,
you know, making the most of it when once a pandemicated,
Like how do you operate out of world you know
where everyone has to now stay at home and away
from each other, and how do you do what you
(14:04):
do from six ft apart? It's kind of a slow process.
You know, you start hearing about it, people start having
the conversations that we're start trickling, and people started wearing
face masks to work, and it's like do we have
to wear this? And then you have to start wearing
gowns and ppe you know, the whole visor and everything
during the pandemic and you weren't able to leave their room,
(14:25):
so you have to be more creative. Was still trying
to accomplishing the goal what they have, but you know,
a limited space, limited resources. Isolation was a big thing
for them. Definitely. Normally they would have their parents or
kids come see them. But now the most of the
interaction was you. I have so wonder what told they
(14:47):
take on some of your patients. You know that it's
specifically the loneliness and not being able to see your
loved ones. I mean there's so much you can read
a letter as a text or FaceTime, you know, but
then the human interaction was probably really vital. Was that
a lot of pressure for you? Do you feel like
what do you feel like? You know what, this is
my calling now and this is what I'm here for.
I don't think I've felt the pressure, but I think
(15:09):
we did look at it on like this person hasn't
seen their daughter who comes every Tuesday to take her
to ship play. This patient hasn't seen you know, their
grandkids who flew out here and they haven't seen it
in like eight years. So this is what we're called
to do. You know, this is something we're passionate about,
but you know, just taking it up another level to
be that joy, that happiness on top of you know,
(15:31):
giving them something to look at going forward, like, hey,
you know, once it's over, it's going to get back
to you being able to enjoy your friends and family. So, uh,
you know, let's work hard while we're here. I know,
you know, I don't know how long it's gonna last either,
but little things like taking them outside down the room
because the face timing when we could, just little things
(15:52):
to keep them engaged, to keep them connected with their family, friends,
because the isolation definitely was real. Well, so much of
country was staying at home. How did you feel like
to you to actually be able to be in person
or have it to be in personal? I guess it
was crazy to see, you know, things like going to work.
(16:13):
There was no traffic on the freeway. It was just
you and a few others. It just looked deserted. My
interactions outside of you know, my home were limited. It
was like go home, go to work, maybe go to
the store, but it was like go later than everyone else,
or go before the crowds, give to see my family.
Didn see my friends either. You know. I think one
(16:35):
of the things that helped save me is uh call
of duty. You know. Playing video games with my friends
was a weekly checking like hey, what's going on? You know,
we could talk about sports, talking about happenings, and then
like get some a little outlet because you know, we
can go to the gym's, can do stuff outside. So
(16:55):
definitely it was hard. Um, like I said, just the solution,
just feel like it was just you, but then knowing
you had to, you know, put on that great face
and go perform for other people because you know, I
know I'm having a hard time, but I know I
can affect tend other people and make them have at
least a great day, you know, so I think their happiness,
(17:17):
their joy, their betterment was better than me, just you know,
sulking and saying, you know why is me? Maybe I
should do something else taking the opportunity because you know,
you don't practice this in school. You don't talk about
you know, what do you do in case of pandemic?
It's it's just this is why you join your job,
and this is definitely something that you know when you
(17:37):
look back, how did you react? Wasn't something you're gonna
be happy about where you're on the right side of history.
Did you do it right? Did you do everything that
you could? So definitely wanted to go forward saying I
was happy with all of my results on my action
and stuff, and that's something that just for me, I
feel accomplished doing, you know. And we used the word
(17:58):
es central nowadays like it's new and I get frustrated
because what you do for three hundred years has been
more over three hundred years, has been essential to people's
wealth being in life in general. You know, But what
does that feel like? How did you process these you know,
these these personal feelings. It was interesting definitely. You know,
(18:20):
you had people complaining about wearing a mask going to
the store, going out, and it's like, you should see
what we have to put on for eight hours a day,
maybe longer, depending on where you're at. It was the
whole and ninety five it was the gown it was
and at times it was you know, it was a
trash bag. So we're there sweating, you know, there's no
(18:40):
conditioning and sometimes you know, so you're just in there trench,
you know, trying to do your best for this person. Um,
you do get a little jealous at time. We just
see people working from home, but you know, again that's
not what we signed up for it. So definitely, nursing
and doctors, they get a lot of the love and
affection you know, but I think rehab plays in important
portion of the whole recovery process as well. We're also
(19:04):
working with the nurses to get him up, We're helping
him walk. The doctors are asking us do you think
they can go home? You know, So I think we're
an important component and I don't think the level is
always there, you know. So seeing that, oh, you know,
rehab is something that's essential, maybe that will be put
on the map, you know, Like I'm saying, like more
people will think about moving forward outside of just being
(19:26):
a nurse or doctor. You can be a physical therapist,
to speech therapist, occupational therapist, and respiratory therapists. They were
in the fight as well. They were helping the COVID
positive patients as well. So hopefully at the end of
this people realize that there's more than just nurses and doctors.
When you think about people that might hear your story
(19:47):
and say, hey, you know, I kind of want to
be like him, man, I want to I want to
do what he does. Like, what words of encouragement do
you have for those future essential workers, those people that
want to be of service and they want to show up,
And then what can we do as a community to
support you and help you and just be there for you.
The biggest thing for therapy definitely, UM, like just getting
(20:09):
the acknowledgement, But I think the biggest thing for us
is actually the patients recognizing your passionate about you're looking
out for me, you have the best interests on me.
So many times that the patient personally tells you you
because I've worked with other therapists and none of them
were like you, your heart does a little happy dance.
I'm like, okay, you know I was doing it right.
(20:29):
It was some hard times in there, but this person
is walking and they're able to go home and see
their kids. Now. I think that's what we're looking forward to.
That's something that we continue to work toward and fight.
Um how people can help. I think we saw what
it was like to not be able to see your
(20:50):
loved ones. So now that you're able, go visit them,
go call them, bring them some pictures, you know, just
have lunch with them, anything like that. I think that's
definitely something that's needed and it will help a lot.
That's amazing. Thank you so much, man, and I definitely
think you're gonna inspire so many people to know that
there's a very rewarding, you know, journey in your profession
(21:14):
and that uh and that's something that you should be
proud of and and that you can share with your
future children as well. Any less messages or anything good
you would like to add, I just want to say
thank you for having me. Shout out to my team
at Countryman in Lemisa. You guys are amazing, from all
the rehab team to the nurses and the doctors that
help with us. Thank you for being there, and we'll
(21:37):
continue to make this work and look forward to better days.
We'll be right back after this break. Welcome back to
Essential Voices. Terrence has such a positive outlook on what
he does. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't always easy
to muster that high energy, but so much love and
(21:58):
enthusiasm made a real difference for his patients at the
worst possible time. Absolutely. I also was moved by what
he said about imagining his grandmother's face on each of
his patients, A strong reminder of just how important a
rehab team is to the recovery process. Ain't taking care
of our loved ones. Finally, we're going to hear from
(22:19):
Essential Worker doctor Sadab Alasco, who has been a family
doctor for forty years. She walks us through what it
was like being there for her patients during this time
and what she considers the most important parts of her job. Well, Sardah,
thank you so much, so beautiful to have you here
(22:41):
with us. Excited about this conversation. Um, the unit will
have I understand you are by lingual. You speak English
and Espanol. So for everyone who's listening, can you tell
us a little bit of who you are and uh,
you know what's important to you. Yeah, I am a
family doctor. I've been doing family men a sin for
almost forty years. A matter of fact, next year will
(23:03):
be my forty year anniversary. Congratulations, thank you of graduating
from medical school. I'm a mom, so you know, mama
of three children. I am an immigrant. I was born
in Mexico and I came to the States when I
was seven. I am a teacher, beautiful, What can of teacher?
Are you? Well? I actually in the past have taught
(23:25):
in training programs for family doctors and also for nurse practitioners. Beautiful,
So you're kind of preparing future heroes per se. That
is my goal to continue and really too, we need
to keep developing our future doctors, particularly Latino doctors and
doctors who are sensitive to the Latino community. How did
you get into it and how you said you've been
(23:46):
doing it for almost forty years now. Yeah, well it
was when I was nine years old. Literally, I used
to interpret from my mom when she went to the doctor.
And our family doctor was a lovely man, black man.
We lived in subsidized housing, and I would go interpret
and he was so kind and so loving, even though
(24:08):
he only spoke words to Spanish that I said, one day,
I'm going to grow up and being like Dr Morland,
who is my hero. There's something I'm expected that you
love about your work, and you can you describe what
you love about it, you know, the relationship you have
with your work and the things that we don't see. Um,
because I feel like most of us when we go
to the doctor, we judge the doctor's experience by that,
(24:29):
you know, fifteen or twenty thirty two, maybe an our
consultation that we have there or further right, you know,
if if treatment is necessary or anything like that or um.
But I wonder why it was your perspective on that. Well,
what I really love is the visit. You know, I
tell people I have spent a lot of extra hours
doing paperwork at the end of my day because I
(24:50):
cannot shorten that visit. I want to feel like that visit,
that interaction is so valuable to me, and I really
see myself. I've always seen myself as a kind of
a holistic healer, if you want to think of it.
So to me, medicine isn't just about it's easy to
give someone a pill. It's really hard to listen with
(25:12):
your heart to see that person has a body, mind
and spirit. That is how I see the patients. And
sometimes you know, the the visit is really just about
being present for people. That can be the most healing
aspect of the visit. And then I love the science
behind it. You know, there is a path or physiology
about how the body works. Um and sometimes I really
(25:35):
like working with more complicated cases because it's like a puzzle.
But you have to start by listening to the patient's story.
If you do, you're a good story their story, then
you're Sometimes you can miss a diagnosis when you find
out about the pandemic. What conversations where you're having when
your friends and family and co workers We had a
(25:55):
little inkling sort of early on. You know, we were
all listening to the case the the doctor from China
who got for sick and then early cases in Seattle.
So there were my coworkers who, particularly our medical assistances,
who were afraid to come into the office. So just
so I think UM a lot of trying to understand
(26:19):
what the next steps were. Is that when you feel
like your work in your life was going to change
significantly at that point, it's now a physical trajectory of
how you get to that point. Do you feel like
that's the first impression to like wild life is going
to be different? Well? It really the first impression was
the Sunday right before the stay at home order. I
was watching UM sixty minutes and I got a call
(26:42):
on Sunday night from my supervisor at work to let
me know that we were going to start stay at home.
And I mean I've never had a call on Sunday
nights from a supervisor in all my years. And basically
I was given the option of staying home of working
from home because I is close to retirementate and just
(27:03):
to kind of tell us this is coming, you know.
So that was the real beginning of Oh, my goodness,
what life is going to change dramatically? And then I said,
you know, I wanted to go into the office. I
felt like I was healthy generally because people still need
their medications, they still need they have questions, so they
still needed care even if we were going to be
(27:24):
open so right away. There were times when I work
from home and actually this is my home office slash
bedroom where I was working and making phone calls when
I would work from home all day because it's the
quietest place in the house, this is where I would
sit and called patients or try to do a video call.
But the stay at home order was the kind of
(27:46):
reality check for us because it changed the way we
treated patients. Has been considered essentially made you feel differently
about yourself. And I think the answer is probably no,
you know, but you lead to the personal growth or change.
You know. If so, what in what ways you would
you describe that? Does that bring anything to you that question? No?
(28:06):
I mean it highlighted the importance of still being able
to connect with the patients how much they need us
no matter what. And in a sense, I guess the
only thing is that during fearful times they need us
even more because even again we were talking about just
the reassurance of a word, right is you know, no
matter what, we're gonna walk this path with you. And
(28:28):
if you are getting worse, we want to hear from you.
If you are getting worse, you need to go to
the hospital. So I think really highlighting that we had
to be there for the community was the most important
thing because open or close, the information is still needed
for people to take care of their health. Um, you know,
I think the heroes to me are the doctors and
(28:49):
nurses in the hospitals who really were you know, they
were confronting the virus right in their face. Yeah, every day.
Is there any way that a community can support the
work that you that you are doing? You know, how
can we really be more aware? How can we be
part of, you know, of the solution. I think the
(29:10):
most important thing is to try to listen to the science.
I cannot tell you more how many stories people would
tell me, let's say about receiving the vaccine. Science has
saved our lives again and again. I mean the reason
polio we were able to eliminate polio was because of vaccine.
So I think right now, the way to you know that,
(29:32):
I would say, to support my work and the work
of the health providers is continuing to get vaccinated. Most recently,
the highest death rates were in people or hospitalizations. Hospitalizations
let me clarify, was from people that were thirty to
forty nine who have not received the vaccine. So, um,
you know, I would say, please get vaccinated. The risk
(29:54):
are very low. We know it as it has great
impact on the future and what will happen. What message
do you want to have for the future essential workers,
you know, the future of the future sidus of the world.
You know what what you know? What what message do
you have for them? First of all, I'd say, thank
(30:15):
you realize your value. You know that without your work,
whether you're working cleaning someone's bad or whatever you're doing,
society would just come to this complete standstill. So too
is protect yourself, you know, demand your right. So so
we I had patients that we're working without proper masking
(30:37):
or distancing, they do have rights and and just to
demand the right to be in an environment that is safer. Um.
I think three is that as a society we need
to continue to to also demand that if people are
essential you know, you know, continue to vote, continue to
(30:58):
do things that move us forward and and protect other
future workers. So so and again, thank you for the work.
That's the most important thing, sel Alaska. Thank you so much.
What I what I privileged just to talk to you,
and I appreciate your words today. Thank you for doing this.
I think it's a great tribute. I appreciate it. I
(31:23):
love that moment where she says, we're going to walk
this path with you. It embodies that reassurance she provides
for her patients and what we've all been looking for
the past couple of years. And we hear at Essential
Voices have been honored to walk this path with you all.
It is such a beautiful note to end the weekend
and help us look forward to our finale. So are
(31:44):
you ready to share the surprise? Walmer? Oh yeah, let's
do it for our final episode of Essential Voices. We
are going to turn the mic around and hear from
our crew. You know, I showed like is doesn't happen
with just one or two people. It takes a village.
And I have to say, I'm pretty fond of ours.
(32:07):
Oh yeah, I am too. So we'll talk about what
we've learned this season on Essential Voices and the lessons
that will take moving forward and I cannot wait. Essential
Voices with Wilma val Drama is produced by me m R. Raquel,
Alison Shano, and Kevin Rotkowski, with production support from associate
producer Lillian Holman. Executive producers Wilmer val Drama, Adam Reynolds,
(32:31):
Leo Clem and Aaron Hilliard. This episode was edited by
m R. Raquel, Sean Tracy and Justin Cho and features
original music by Will Risotti. Special thanks to this week's
Essential Voices Walter Marino, Terrence Abram and Sada Alasco. Additional
thanks to Linda Moreno. This is a Clamor and w
(32:52):
V Entertainment production in partnership with I Heart Radios Michael
Dura podcast Network. For more podcasts from My Heart, visit
the Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. H
Hello, Mr. Hello Wilmer. We're going full hello now just
high so you can see we're changing things up on
the show. Just shows you how much we've grown through
this experience. Mr. I mean I feel just about ready
to retire if I'm being honest. How about you? Never never,
never retired and never quitted? What are we up this week?
(00:25):
So any listener who's been with us since the beginning
knows that our goal has always been to broaden our horizons,
specifically about who we view as an essential worker. As such,
it shouldn't be a surprise that there were way more
incredible stories and we could fit into all of our
episodes exactly. And since we are getting close to the
end of the stretch of the journey, we wanted to
(00:45):
take a moment to shine the spotlight on three of
our remaining essential voices. First up, we're going to hear
from Essential Worker Walter Marino. He's a soccer coach with
the Olea soccer club who didn't pause his role as
coach even when his players couldn't hit the field. The person.
He'll talk to us about how his soccer club rallied
and why he thinks soccer is an essential part of
(01:05):
the community. Hi, my name is Walter Medino from ol
a soccer club based out of the San Fernando Valley.
I'm the director of the club, also a coach and
a person that really tries to get back to our
local community place. You're talking to you, man, you know.
I actually when I first came to the United States,
(01:27):
I you know, I didn't have any friends, right because
I don't know how to speak English, you know. So
the first thing I did was, you know, I signed
up to you know, to the San Fernando Soccer League,
you know, and I played with Salvadorians with him tacos.
He kind knows from everywhere, you know. And the thing
that was really crazy is that my dad was the
(01:47):
coach of our team. And man, that sucked. Your dad
is a coach. Man. That's so you don't want the example, bro,
Like they they said, you know, you're you make one mistake,
he sits down. Everybody was makes three mistakes, they get
another try, you know, and you go, I go, Dad,
why are you sitting me down? He made three mistakes.
I only made one on the field, and he said, um,
(02:09):
he said, well, you're at the sound of the coach. Yeah,
it's suck, man, But hey, how you get it? How
you get into this? Man asked a good question. So
I've played as long as I remember, you know, from
watching my dad except on the field, to being on
the field, to having my my uncle's play, my family
(02:29):
just every week, and we knew we were going to
be on the field. So just being around it, being
immersed in that environment, you just start to pick it
up and you grow the passion and love because as
you see him on the field, and that's what you
want to do. So I played club. I grew up
playing in the San Fernando Valley really, and then I
transitioned to playing high school, playing college, and after college roughly,
(02:50):
I said, you know, I think my my days of
going pro, I think it might have been stopped. You know,
it wasn't as good as I thought. Maybe, And so
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go back
and I want to go back to my high school.
I want to Kennedy High School and Gronada Hills. I'm
gonna go and say, you know what, how can I
how can I help? I want to be a coach
and just try this out to see if I can
help these new kids coming up to offer them something.
(03:12):
Then you give kids from your own your own community
there an opportunity to play and potentially get exposed to
open more doors to potentially do what I did. You know,
get an education, go to a better school, potentially use
your talent to get a potential degree. You know, you
just you just don't know. So it's able to open doors.
So that's how I kind of stumbled into coaching. I
didn't think I was gonna be a coach. Mm hmmm.
(03:33):
Now that sounds amazing. I mean, I think it brings
me back to a lot of those days, you know,
when when you know that was that was where we
found community when I first came to the United States. Um,
you know, you don't know what to expect, and uh
in finding each other in that community was very empowering
for me, you know. And the thing that we had
in coming with soccer, you know, and is that the
(03:54):
one thing that you love so much about this thing, man,
is how how I could bring all of us together
in the one coming go Like when you're the field,
you're you're wearing the same jersey, you know exactly, and
you see that and then it's called the beautiful game
for a reason, right, It unites people, It brings people together.
It teaches you about not only soccer, but to teach
about life struggles, how to deal with diversity, you know,
(04:16):
how to have people around you, how to work as
a team. And then for kids especially, parents want to
involve their kids so much in sports because of what
it teaches other than just winning and losing. And a
trophy is great at all, but the person you become
to actually earn that trophy, right, the how you evolve,
you know, how you learn about hard work, discipline, having
(04:39):
a good attitude. You know, not only following directions, but
you know, working working to strive for something, right, the
person you become to be able to earn that and
finding your tribal I think you know human beings are
are being they're very tribal, right, so we try to
find who kind of connects with us. And then with
soccer especially, it brings people together, regardless of your race
(04:59):
or is your ethnicity's religion, etcetera. Like, people revolve around
this because it's it's so beautiful to see that, you know,
I mean, to your to your point, do you feel
like that's I'm sure this is that's one aspect that
you love about about what you do, you know, seeing
the community come together and seeing these kids blossom there
and I think the form of expression, you know, is
there is that the thing that you kind of feel
(05:21):
like you see the most and as you enter the
world that introduces you to a life change in situation
like a pandemic. How therapeutic and how you know, I
I look at I look at the psychology part of it,
you know, I look at like what what that sport
gives the community, and what it gives the family, and
then what it provides for the for the young you know,
(05:44):
person who's playing it. You know, So how did that
play out because I'm assuming there's tons of stories and
how these kids just really need to be on that
field with you. Yeah, yeah, And it was getting creative
on how to still connect with people in a safe
way when we had to shut the on for a
few months where you don't know what's happening, you don't
know if it's safe to be out there for you,
for your family. How can we still connect with these
(06:07):
kids that that probably their happiest, one of the happiest
times of the day is running out to that field
and being on the field and just express themselves and
their parents as well, like I need, you know, I
need some time to myself to like let them go
and do exercise and birds energy and be around other kids, socialized.
And I'm so proud of our of our staff, our
coaches that went above and beyond. Like our coaches said,
(06:29):
you know what, we understand where everybody's going through this,
but the kids need this more now than ever. To
be able to connect with them, they started doing zoom
sessions where they were practicing ball skills, they were going
over exercise, are going over tactics, they were going over
videos of games of how we can play. Things like
that were we still had them involved in the sport.
(06:51):
And what made me so proud is that the coaches
were like, we're not even gonna charge. What we want
to do is just help, Like I don't want anybody
to pay me, like nothing. They said out of their
heart because they know the kids they needed it. They said,
let's just do this, let's help, let's help. We're a
small club, but we focus on the quality that we're
trying to give these kids. The time there, the love
(07:14):
we give them, you know, the passion that we show
for them. So it just trickles down because you don't
know who's going to come out of this, you know,
in a in a way where you know you can
either mentally hurt them a lot by not being there.
Like I thought my coach was there for me. I
thought my teammates were there for me. But they're not
showing up right now. Where are they when we need
them the most? You know, where are they? Theyre just
(07:35):
what are they doing, you know, just sitting at home
doing nothing? No that we we couldn't be that club.
We couldn't be those coaches that weren't there for them
when they needed us the most. Was there an instant?
I mean, was there a moment for you that you thought,
you know, wow, this is as they say, essential, you know,
you know, because I'm sure that you have to take
a break for a second, right, I mean, the pandemic halls,
and I wonder what these conversations were likely be guys. Yeah,
(07:58):
for our staff, we were trying to get as creative
as we could, you know, with what whatever resources we had.
And then eventually we're just trying to say, hey, we're
just another day closer to being back on the field,
where another week closer and anxiety at the end of
the time though, yeah, exactly, even though we didn't know
win the back of mind, that's what the picture we
(08:18):
had to paint for them so that we can all
try to get by day by day. And it's a calling,
you know, not not for everybody, because not everybody wants
to be a coach, you know, like you know, you
know your dad dealing with your dad, it's like, you
know he did it. He probably did it because of you, right, um,
And secretly he wanted me to be a pro cycle player.
He thought that I said that a four t V
(08:40):
T and I still had a shot. I'm like, no,
my man, I think that boat sail, you know. And
we talked a lot about um leadership. We talked a
lot about uh, community coaches being coaches. Yeah, but a coach,
you know, especially comes to sports, isn't just isn't just
a coach. It's not about x's and ohs. It's not
about you know, winning the game. It's what impact you
(09:02):
really provide to these kids, to these more than just
a sport, right, what what are you trying to teach
a top of human beings? Are you're trying to really
raise and that's where I saw our our staff really
step up and be like you guys are real leaders
within your community, helping these kids, being there for them,
you know. And it takes everybody, takes a village, you know,
and that's what we try to We try to create
(09:23):
our own village, try to do it our way. And
you know, I'm super proud of of of everybody coming
together and just moving as one to understand the bigger
picture of what we were facing together. That's amazing, man,
and we you know, I I definitely I'm really intrigued
to kinda come back and once you guys start playing
again on Saturdays, bring my bring my cooler and my
bag of oranges, bro please. And that was beautiful. So
(09:47):
I just want to say thank you, man, because you know,
people like you that don't drift away too too far
from how essential you are to those communities, um that
really have paved the road for young many women to
grow up and be anything they want to be. Knowing
that organized you know, teamwork and getting up in the morning,
you when you don't want to, but then you get
(10:08):
out on the field and you're happy you did. You know,
there's so many different ways that the people can benefit. Man.
But thank you again for this conversation, and and I
really appreciate you man. Thank you Walmer, thank you so
much for having us on and sharing a little piece
about our little community. We'll be right back after this break.
Welcome back to Essential Voices. Walter's story is so great
(10:32):
because his role as a soccer coach is definitely not
the first role you think of when you hear Essential Worker.
But as he laid out, for these families, soccer is
essential for so many reasons beyond exercise or just having
a bit of fun. We're all just one day closer
to get him back on the field. I mean, what's
really the perfect messaging for that period of uncertainty? And
(10:53):
I can't imagine. You know, he gave his players so
much hope and gave me hope just hearing it. Next
will hear from Essential Worker Terrence Abraham. Terrence is an
occupational therapist at a nursing facility in Los Angeles. We'll
learn about how he got into occupational therapy and the
additional challenges that came with taking care of patients during
(11:16):
the pandemic. HI have anyame? Is Teren Abraham currently in
San Diego, California, and I'm an occupational therapy assistant for
a skilled nursing facility. Great, thank you so much. Man,
it's a less you to talk to you. So I
wanted to talk a little bit about your passions and
you know how you got into this and how long
(11:36):
you've been doing it. I've been only been doing it
for two years. Um. I actually got into it through
one of my college professors. She actually taught a class
on occupational therapy. She worked for special needs kids. She
had her own clinic, so she gave me the opportunity
to come like shadow her, come visitor when I could
just she was really flexible with my schedule so that
(11:57):
helped out a lot. And I really loved what she did.
It was just the church and she just worked with
a few kids, just gave him after school program, just
something to keep them occupied, something to continue to help
them grow. And that kind of sparked my interest in
occupation therapy. Something about that, I'm sure it made you
really passionate. Is there an instant that when this is
(12:17):
why I'm in this? A little bit different? So I
started with kids there and I did. I love the kids,
their energy, They're always so funny, energetic. It's always fun
to play. I think for me though, currently I work
in a skill nursing facility and my grandma has actually
been through numerous back surgeries, so I can put her
(12:38):
face on every patient or resident that I'm approaching and
saying like if she was in a facility, how would
I want her to be treated? It was definitely something
personal to me, and then I can continue to pay
it forward to other people so they know that their
love wounds are in good hands. What does it take
to be Terrensted? You know, on a daily basis, you
get up, you know, you do the work, customer lot
of stuff, and then once you're get in the car
(12:59):
and you on your way to work, you know, what
is your day look like? Uh? So I get there.
We normally have a list of patients to see, could
be like tender show patients. We're given name, you know,
room number, the minutes I got to see them for,
and then like just like special things, you know, are
they in a cafe, are they on oxygen? Just a
little things to keep in mind as you're going forward
(13:21):
with the treatment. And from there then I started actually
seeing the patients, so it can be anything from you know,
starting with some upper body strengthening. Balance is a big
thing for the elderly population. A lot of falls, so
definitely their activity talents, making sure their endurance is up.
You know, they used to go shopping and I have
(13:43):
to take a break, and nowadays they do one thing
and they're a little tired. So just constantly educating them
about their current situation and keeping them safe, you know,
to help them keep that independence for living their life,
you know, making the most of it when once a pandemicated,
Like how do you operate out of world you know
where everyone has to now stay at home and away
from each other, and how do you do what you
(14:04):
do from six ft apart? It's kind of a slow process.
You know, you start hearing about it, people start having
the conversations that we're start trickling, and people started wearing
face masks to work, and it's like do we have
to wear this? And then you have to start wearing
gowns and ppe you know, the whole visor and everything
during the pandemic and you weren't able to leave their room,
(14:25):
so you have to be more creative. Was still trying
to accomplishing the goal what they have, but you know,
a limited space, limited resources. Isolation was a big thing
for them. Definitely. Normally they would have their parents or
kids come see them. But now the most of the
interaction was you. I have so wonder what told they
(14:47):
take on some of your patients. You know that it's
specifically the loneliness and not being able to see your
loved ones. I mean there's so much you can read
a letter as a text or FaceTime, you know, but
then the human interaction was probably really vital. Was that
a lot of pressure for you? Do you feel like
what do you feel like? You know what, this is
my calling now and this is what I'm here for.
I don't think I've felt the pressure, but I think
(15:09):
we did look at it on like this person hasn't
seen their daughter who comes every Tuesday to take her
to ship play. This patient hasn't seen you know, their
grandkids who flew out here and they haven't seen it
in like eight years. So this is what we're called
to do. You know, this is something we're passionate about,
but you know, just taking it up another level to
be that joy, that happiness on top of you know,
(15:31):
giving them something to look at going forward, like, hey,
you know, once it's over, it's going to get back
to you being able to enjoy your friends and family. So, uh,
you know, let's work hard while we're here. I know,
you know, I don't know how long it's gonna last either,
but little things like taking them outside down the room
because the face timing when we could, just little things
(15:52):
to keep them engaged, to keep them connected with their family, friends,
because the isolation definitely was real. Well, so much of
country was staying at home. How did you feel like
to you to actually be able to be in person
or have it to be in personal? I guess it
was crazy to see, you know, things like going to work.
(16:13):
There was no traffic on the freeway. It was just
you and a few others. It just looked deserted. My
interactions outside of you know, my home were limited. It
was like go home, go to work, maybe go to
the store, but it was like go later than everyone else,
or go before the crowds, give to see my family.
Didn see my friends either. You know. I think one
(16:35):
of the things that helped save me is uh call
of duty. You know. Playing video games with my friends
was a weekly checking like hey, what's going on? You know,
we could talk about sports, talking about happenings, and then
like get some a little outlet because you know, we
can go to the gym's, can do stuff outside. So
(16:55):
definitely it was hard. Um, like I said, just the solution,
just feel like it was just you, but then knowing
you had to, you know, put on that great face
and go perform for other people because you know, I
know I'm having a hard time, but I know I
can affect tend other people and make them have at
least a great day, you know, so I think their happiness,
(17:17):
their joy, their betterment was better than me, just you know,
sulking and saying, you know why is me? Maybe I
should do something else taking the opportunity because you know,
you don't practice this in school. You don't talk about
you know, what do you do in case of pandemic?
It's it's just this is why you join your job,
and this is definitely something that you know when you
(17:37):
look back, how did you react? Wasn't something you're gonna
be happy about where you're on the right side of history.
Did you do it right? Did you do everything that
you could? So definitely wanted to go forward saying I
was happy with all of my results on my action
and stuff, and that's something that just for me, I
feel accomplished doing, you know. And we used the word
(17:58):
es central nowadays like it's new and I get frustrated
because what you do for three hundred years has been
more over three hundred years, has been essential to people's
wealth being in life in general. You know, But what
does that feel like? How did you process these you know,
these these personal feelings. It was interesting definitely. You know,
(18:20):
you had people complaining about wearing a mask going to
the store, going out, and it's like, you should see
what we have to put on for eight hours a day,
maybe longer, depending on where you're at. It was the
whole and ninety five it was the gown it was
and at times it was you know, it was a
trash bag. So we're there sweating, you know, there's no
(18:40):
conditioning and sometimes you know, so you're just in there trench,
you know, trying to do your best for this person. Um,
you do get a little jealous at time. We just
see people working from home, but you know, again that's
not what we signed up for it. So definitely, nursing
and doctors, they get a lot of the love and
affection you know, but I think rehab plays in important
portion of the whole recovery process as well. We're also
(19:04):
working with the nurses to get him up, We're helping
him walk. The doctors are asking us do you think
they can go home? You know, So I think we're
an important component and I don't think the level is
always there, you know. So seeing that, oh, you know,
rehab is something that's essential, maybe that will be put
on the map, you know, Like I'm saying, like more
people will think about moving forward outside of just being
(19:26):
a nurse or doctor. You can be a physical therapist,
to speech therapist, occupational therapist, and respiratory therapists. They were
in the fight as well. They were helping the COVID
positive patients as well. So hopefully at the end of
this people realize that there's more than just nurses and doctors.
When you think about people that might hear your story
(19:47):
and say, hey, you know, I kind of want to
be like him, man, I want to I want to
do what he does. Like, what words of encouragement do
you have for those future essential workers, those people that
want to be of service and they want to show up,
And then what can we do as a community to
support you and help you and just be there for you.
The biggest thing for therapy definitely, UM, like just getting
(20:09):
the acknowledgement, But I think the biggest thing for us
is actually the patients recognizing your passionate about you're looking
out for me, you have the best interests on me.
So many times that the patient personally tells you you
because I've worked with other therapists and none of them
were like you, your heart does a little happy dance.
I'm like, okay, you know I was doing it right.
(20:29):
It was some hard times in there, but this person
is walking and they're able to go home and see
their kids. Now. I think that's what we're looking forward to.
That's something that we continue to work toward and fight.
Um how people can help. I think we saw what
it was like to not be able to see your
(20:50):
loved ones. So now that you're able, go visit them,
go call them, bring them some pictures, you know, just
have lunch with them, anything like that. I think that's
definitely something that's needed and it will help a lot.
That's amazing. Thank you so much, man, and I definitely
think you're gonna inspire so many people to know that
there's a very rewarding, you know, journey in your profession
(21:14):
and that uh and that's something that you should be
proud of and and that you can share with your
future children as well. Any less messages or anything good
you would like to add, I just want to say
thank you for having me. Shout out to my team
at Countryman in Lemisa. You guys are amazing, from all
the rehab team to the nurses and the doctors that
help with us. Thank you for being there, and we'll
(21:37):
continue to make this work and look forward to better days.
We'll be right back after this break. Welcome back to
Essential Voices. Terrence has such a positive outlook on what
he does. I mean, I'm sure it wasn't always easy
to muster that high energy, but so much love and
(21:58):
enthusiasm made a real difference for his patients at the
worst possible time. Absolutely. I also was moved by what
he said about imagining his grandmother's face on each of
his patients, A strong reminder of just how important a
rehab team is to the recovery process. Ain't taking care
of our loved ones. Finally, we're going to hear from
(22:19):
Essential Worker doctor Sadab Alasco, who has been a family
doctor for forty years. She walks us through what it
was like being there for her patients during this time
and what she considers the most important parts of her job. Well, Sardah,
thank you so much, so beautiful to have you here
(22:41):
with us. Excited about this conversation. Um, the unit will
have I understand you are by lingual. You speak English
and Espanol. So for everyone who's listening, can you tell
us a little bit of who you are and uh,
you know what's important to you. Yeah, I am a
family doctor. I've been doing family men a sin for
almost forty years. A matter of fact, next year will
(23:03):
be my forty year anniversary. Congratulations, thank you of graduating
from medical school. I'm a mom, so you know, mama
of three children. I am an immigrant. I was born
in Mexico and I came to the States when I
was seven. I am a teacher, beautiful, What can of teacher?
Are you? Well? I actually in the past have taught
(23:25):
in training programs for family doctors and also for nurse practitioners. Beautiful,
So you're kind of preparing future heroes per se. That
is my goal to continue and really too, we need
to keep developing our future doctors, particularly Latino doctors and
doctors who are sensitive to the Latino community. How did
you get into it and how you said you've been
(23:46):
doing it for almost forty years now. Yeah, well it
was when I was nine years old. Literally, I used
to interpret from my mom when she went to the doctor.
And our family doctor was a lovely man, black man.
We lived in subsidized housing, and I would go interpret
and he was so kind and so loving, even though
(24:08):
he only spoke words to Spanish that I said, one day,
I'm going to grow up and being like Dr Morland,
who is my hero. There's something I'm expected that you
love about your work, and you can you describe what
you love about it, you know, the relationship you have
with your work and the things that we don't see. Um,
because I feel like most of us when we go
to the doctor, we judge the doctor's experience by that,
(24:29):
you know, fifteen or twenty thirty two, maybe an our
consultation that we have there or further right, you know,
if if treatment is necessary or anything like that or um.
But I wonder why it was your perspective on that. Well,
what I really love is the visit. You know, I
tell people I have spent a lot of extra hours
doing paperwork at the end of my day because I
(24:50):
cannot shorten that visit. I want to feel like that visit,
that interaction is so valuable to me, and I really
see myself. I've always seen myself as a kind of
a holistic healer, if you want to think of it.
So to me, medicine isn't just about it's easy to
give someone a pill. It's really hard to listen with
(25:12):
your heart to see that person has a body, mind
and spirit. That is how I see the patients. And
sometimes you know, the the visit is really just about
being present for people. That can be the most healing
aspect of the visit. And then I love the science
behind it. You know, there is a path or physiology
about how the body works. Um and sometimes I really
(25:35):
like working with more complicated cases because it's like a puzzle.
But you have to start by listening to the patient's story.
If you do, you're a good story their story, then
you're Sometimes you can miss a diagnosis when you find
out about the pandemic. What conversations where you're having when
your friends and family and co workers We had a
(25:55):
little inkling sort of early on. You know, we were
all listening to the case the the doctor from China
who got for sick and then early cases in Seattle.
So there were my coworkers who, particularly our medical assistances,
who were afraid to come into the office. So just
so I think UM a lot of trying to understand
(26:19):
what the next steps were. Is that when you feel
like your work in your life was going to change
significantly at that point, it's now a physical trajectory of
how you get to that point. Do you feel like
that's the first impression to like wild life is going
to be different? Well? It really the first impression was
the Sunday right before the stay at home order. I
was watching UM sixty minutes and I got a call
(26:42):
on Sunday night from my supervisor at work to let
me know that we were going to start stay at home.
And I mean I've never had a call on Sunday
nights from a supervisor in all my years. And basically
I was given the option of staying home of working
from home because I is close to retirementate and just
(27:03):
to kind of tell us this is coming, you know.
So that was the real beginning of Oh, my goodness,
what life is going to change dramatically? And then I said,
you know, I wanted to go into the office. I
felt like I was healthy generally because people still need
their medications, they still need they have questions, so they
still needed care even if we were going to be
(27:24):
open so right away. There were times when I work
from home and actually this is my home office slash
bedroom where I was working and making phone calls when
I would work from home all day because it's the
quietest place in the house, this is where I would
sit and called patients or try to do a video call.
But the stay at home order was the kind of
(27:46):
reality check for us because it changed the way we
treated patients. Has been considered essentially made you feel differently
about yourself. And I think the answer is probably no,
you know, but you lead to the personal growth or change.
You know. If so, what in what ways you would
you describe that? Does that bring anything to you that question? No?
(28:06):
I mean it highlighted the importance of still being able
to connect with the patients how much they need us
no matter what. And in a sense, I guess the
only thing is that during fearful times they need us
even more because even again we were talking about just
the reassurance of a word, right is you know, no
matter what, we're gonna walk this path with you. And
(28:28):
if you are getting worse, we want to hear from you.
If you are getting worse, you need to go to
the hospital. So I think really highlighting that we had
to be there for the community was the most important
thing because open or close, the information is still needed
for people to take care of their health. Um, you know,
I think the heroes to me are the doctors and
(28:49):
nurses in the hospitals who really were you know, they
were confronting the virus right in their face. Yeah, every day.
Is there any way that a community can support the
work that you that you are doing? You know, how
can we really be more aware? How can we be
part of, you know, of the solution. I think the
(29:10):
most important thing is to try to listen to the science.
I cannot tell you more how many stories people would
tell me, let's say about receiving the vaccine. Science has
saved our lives again and again. I mean the reason
polio we were able to eliminate polio was because of vaccine.
So I think right now, the way to you know that,
(29:32):
I would say, to support my work and the work
of the health providers is continuing to get vaccinated. Most recently,
the highest death rates were in people or hospitalizations. Hospitalizations
let me clarify, was from people that were thirty to
forty nine who have not received the vaccine. So, um,
you know, I would say, please get vaccinated. The risk
(29:54):
are very low. We know it as it has great
impact on the future and what will happen. What message
do you want to have for the future essential workers,
you know, the future of the future sidus of the world.
You know what what you know? What what message do
you have for them? First of all, I'd say, thank
(30:15):
you realize your value. You know that without your work,
whether you're working cleaning someone's bad or whatever you're doing,
society would just come to this complete standstill. So too
is protect yourself, you know, demand your right. So so
we I had patients that we're working without proper masking
(30:37):
or distancing, they do have rights and and just to
demand the right to be in an environment that is safer. Um.
I think three is that as a society we need
to continue to to also demand that if people are
essential you know, you know, continue to vote, continue to
(30:58):
do things that move us forward and and protect other
future workers. So so and again, thank you for the work.
That's the most important thing, sel Alaska. Thank you so much.
What I what I privileged just to talk to you,
and I appreciate your words today. Thank you for doing this.
I think it's a great tribute. I appreciate it. I
(31:23):
love that moment where she says, we're going to walk
this path with you. It embodies that reassurance she provides
for her patients and what we've all been looking for
the past couple of years. And we hear at Essential
Voices have been honored to walk this path with you all.
It is such a beautiful note to end the weekend
and help us look forward to our finale. So are
(31:44):
you ready to share the surprise? Walmer? Oh yeah, let's
do it for our final episode of Essential Voices. We
are going to turn the mic around and hear from
our crew. You know, I showed like is doesn't happen
with just one or two people. It takes a village.
And I have to say, I'm pretty fond of ours.
(32:07):
Oh yeah, I am too. So we'll talk about what
we've learned this season on Essential Voices and the lessons
that will take moving forward and I cannot wait. Essential
Voices with Wilma val Drama is produced by me m R. Raquel,
Alison Shano, and Kevin Rotkowski, with production support from associate
producer Lillian Holman. Executive producers Wilmer val Drama, Adam Reynolds,
(32:31):
Leo Clem and Aaron Hilliard. This episode was edited by
m R. Raquel, Sean Tracy and Justin Cho and features
original music by Will Risotti. Special thanks to this week's
Essential Voices Walter Marino, Terrence Abram and Sada Alasco. Additional
thanks to Linda Moreno. This is a Clamor and w
(32:52):
V Entertainment production in partnership with I Heart Radios Michael
Dura podcast Network. For more podcasts from My Heart, visit
the Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. H
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