Paramedics in times of pandemic. Stories of anguish, fear and hope

Abstract

Covid-19´s, health emergency is a total social event that questions civilization as a whole, is a call to the type of life and society that we develop. In the context of this pandemic, this paper analyzes the experiences of a group of paramedics from the Mexican Red Cross, around their work in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas, Mexico. The study is of a qualitative type, developed through the interpretative method. Semi-structured interviews were applied to three paramedics, the data collected were examined using the content analysis technique, whose results expose three thematic blocks: Love of the t-shirt, in the Red Cross, where the activities they carry out and the sense of their work as a volunteer were characterized; Pandemic time, 2020, it describes the Covid-19 patients care protocol and the feelings and fears that mobilize this task; and: Do you want the Red Cross or your family? Perspectives from Covid-19; reflecting on health affectation, in themselves and their family, their continuity or not in the institution and the perspective of life from the suffering of the disease. The commitment to support and solidarity as a paramedic is deeply conflicted by the health emergency, in which the boundaries bordering the plot of giving to the other are broken to the feeling of vulnerability and helplessness, in the fear of becoming infected and infecting the family and in the encounter with death, useful aspects for containment and support services that must be offered to these professionals.